Day 3 - June 18, 2007 Food and Fun

After we unloaded all our luggage and freshened up a bit, we decided to go find somewhere to eat. Now keep in mind, we have some in our group that are on the "picky" side and are hard to please. I won't call names, but I've never been that way (unfortunately).

We located this neat sidewalk cafe that had upstairs, indoor dining that would accommodate us all. The food was rather expensive and a little on the "fancy" side. Rachel ordered a cheeseburger and that's what she got. She also ordered what she thought was sweet, iced tea. This is what the waitress brought to her.I wish I could have captured the look on her face at that moment. It was priceless. You know who ended up trading with her! (moi!) Rachel learned that in order to get iced tea (usually not sweetened) you have to specify - ICE! The French do not use very much ice, if any at all.

Anna was the one to be adventurous by ordering Steak Tartare. Now for those of you who are not familiar with that dish, it's basically raw hamburger meat. She ate it and said it wasn't half bad. I believe that she would have eaten it if it had killed her!

Carole ordered goat cheese and a seared tomato. The cheese was served on top of slices of bagettes. The tomato is in the center of her plate. I tried the cheese and it wasn't bad. As you can see, her tea has not ice in it. France has some wonderful cheeses!!


After we ate we headed over to the Eiffel Tower. It is such an amazing structure and I could not take too many photos of it. We were able to go to the top which allowed a wonderful view of Paris but the tower was way too crowded. I have a hard time being "trapped" in that many people and finally had to fight my way back to the elevator to go down. We got there while it was still daylight and stayed way after dark.

The Eiffel Tower was visited by 6,719,200 people last year and I think that there were that many present the night we went. Some of us braved the crowd to travel by elevator all the way to the top even though it was cheaper to go by stairs. Can you imagine climbing over 81 stories by stair? It was way too crowded for me and after having grabbed a few shots with my camera, I quickly fought my way to the elevator and back to the ground.


There were all types of people visiting the tower; many countries represented. There was also a military presence which was a little unsettling. Among the crowd were beggers who would come up to you and ask if you spoke English. If you responded "yes" they would hand you a piece of paper telling of their plight as a refugee and asking for money. They were so brazen that we finally started ignoring them. Then there were the peddlers who were selling "Bling!" That word became a joke among us. You could bargain with them and get a better price on their wares.

Another thing I quickly learned was that most of the people in France smoke. It was amazing how many people we saw smoking even though the government is trying to crack down on it. I'm amazed that I didn't keep a headache the entire time we were there.

Shoes are big fashion statements in France with the men as well as the women. The LONG, pointed toe, high-heeled shoes were very popular. We were all sporting atheletic shoes because of all the walking we were doing, and the Parisians were in their fashionable footware, no matter how long they were having to stand or walk.

Our sleep schedules never did get adjusted to Paris time. It didn't get dark until around 10:30 p.m. and the streets were bustling until way after midnight. We finally headed back to the hotel to catch some rest before our next busy day to Normandy.