Day 37 (July 15th): Paris

We finally motivated out of bed around 9:00 AM and showered. We had to pack up our stuff since we needed to check out at 12:00 PM and we were not planning to come back to the hotel in time. We got our stuff together and brought it downstairs. We asked them to hold our luggage for the day and we would come back for it later. It was strange but they didn’t have a luggage storage area and we ended up leaving our stuff in the lobby next to one of the couches. We felt odd leaving our stuff there but they said people do it all the time. Today was Eiffel Tower day so we headed in that direction. We stopped at a nice restaurant in the Trocadero (same place we saw the fireworks last night) that looked out at the Eiffel Tower. It was a beautiful day and we sat outside. The kids had eggs, croissants and hot chocolate while I had a Camembert sandwich. Everybody enjoyed their meal. After breakfast we walked around the Trocadero and stopped for a great view of the Tower and took pictures. We then headed across the Seine and came upon the Tower itself (see picture on left). Due to Bastille Day the crowds were much larger than usual and we ended up waiting on line for over 2.5 hrs. The kids spent a good amount of that time chasing pigeons. We finally made it to the elevator and you have the option of going to the 1st, 2nd or 3rd floor (the 3rd floor is the top observation deck). Although we paid to go to the 3rd floor, the elevator stops at the 2nd floor and you need to go on another line to take a different elevator to the top. It was over 3 hours before we walked the final staircase and got to the top observation deck. It was a nice clear day and you were able to see for miles. The kids enjoyed it and we took a bunch of pictures (see middle picture on left). We made a few trips around the top deck and then took the elevator back to the 2nd floor. There was a small shop and Hannah bought a couple of post cards and Zach bought a small Eiffel Tower. By the time we got back down to the bottom it was around 2:00 PM. We stopped and bought some ice cream and drinks before walking over to the Metro. Our next stop was an old Jewish section of Paris. We got there and looked for a specific falafel place that supposedly had “the best falafel in the world”. It wasn’t hard to find this place since there were four guys outside the restaurant wearing yomikahs screaming out for you to come over. We ordered three falafels and drinks since Zach wouldn’t eat one. We grabbed some chairs outside and enjoyed our world famous falafels. These falafels had eggplant, lettuce, humus, two types of cabbage (white and purple) and a bunch of falafel balls. After eating we went to a kosher pizza place right down the block and got Zach his pizza. I walked into the pizza store with my falafel and the guy behind the counter kicked me out since my falafel was made in a non-kosher place. After lunch we checked out the stores and then stopped at a bakery that Al had read about. We got a chocolate cake, apple strudel and cheesecake to snack on while we sat in the back of the store. There was no AC and we sweated it out while the kids used the bathroom. Our next stop was a playground where the kids played in the sandbox for a while as Al and I rested on a park bench. It was getting late and we needed to head back to the hotel so we could hit the road. We took the Metro back to the Arc du Triomphe so we could walk around and get a good view of it since we didn’t get a good chance yesterday due to the parade. To access the Arc you need to go under the street and take a staircase up since it is impossible to cross the street due to the traffic. The Arc is impressive especially with the big French flag flying for Bastille Day (see top middle picture). We hung for a while (the kids chased some more pigeons) and then walked over to the parking garage to get our car. In the garage it was interesting to note that we noticed at least four cars that had “boots” on them. We drove back to the hotel, packed the car and made one stop at a convenience store around the corner since Zach was starving. We bought some bread, salami, cheese and drinks that ended up being our dinner since we didn’t want to stop on the road. We finally left Paris around 8:30 PM and got back to our apartment in Dusseldorf after 1:00 AM. It was a fun weekend and we were all exhausted.