Day 1 - Paris (Tour Eiffel)

25 Feb 2010
No visit to Paris is complete without paying homage to the magnificent Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower). We took a slow walk from Les Invalides to the Eiffel Tower, which was not too far away. Thankfully, we had some brief sunshine. However, due to the earlier rain, the path leading to the Eiffel Tower was rather wet and muddy.

No explanation needed here

On arrival, I had decided scale Eiffel Tower by stairs to the 1st and 2nd floors, a decision that I would regret later. Joyce waited for me at the foot of the tower while I made my climb. It was a torturous EUR 4.50 climb for me (I promise to keep fit and start exercising). I can tell you that I wasn't the only one gasping for breath. Please click on the embedded short video clip to see what I had to go through.

The views from the 1st and 2nd floors of the Eiffel Tower are awesome (see below) and well worth the climb. If you're not as fit as me (ahem!), please take the lift.

Bird's eye view of the Seine

After our visit to Eiffel Tower, we took a walk towards Trocadero. Along the way, we were touted by young children and adults, majority of them of African origin, into buying souvenirs. It was a totally different sight ten years ago. We had a brief 'bladder break' at the Trocadero Metro station before taking the train to Champs Elysees (Charles de Gaulle Etoille station).

Champs Élysées
Champs Élysées was busy as it was Friday night and plenty of people walking around even though it's cold. Our mission is just to hang out, have dinner and do some window shopping. The Arc de Triomphe stood majestically in the midst of walking Parisians and tourists alike.

Me and Arc de Triomphe in the background

We walked into a few boutiques like Louis Vuitton to momentarily escape from the cold weather and to our surprise, the clientele were mainly Asians (from China) - you could also hear them a mile away. After dinner (believe it or not, we ate at McDonald's), we took the metro to Châtelet - Les Halles station and connect to our RER B train back to Roissypole. We had an early night as we would be travelling early the next day.

Avenue des Champs Élysées