Day 11 Paris:

Today has been a long day which started out with the weather being cold and overcast. We took off back down to the bus stop where we resumed our Paris Grand Tour (the green route) on the open top bus and can finally get to see the Eiffel Tower. So we are waiting at the bus stop, and waiting, and waiting........and waiting. The bus is not coming and we are becoming a bit testy including the other 350 people that have now joined the queue. 45 minutes later the bus finally arrives and we can get on our way. Not bad for a bus that is meant to rock up every 10-15 minutes. This bus company is starting to give me the-you-know-what’s. We are sitting on top of the bus and 5 minutes in Tyler says “I’m cold”. I look around and he has goose bumps and he is shivering. “Well, put your jumper on mate” I said. “I didn’t bring it” he replies. That’s strange, because I distinctly remember telling him about 85 times before leaving the apartment to either “put your jumper on or stick it in your backpack”. “That’s just great” I said to him. He was going to freeze going up the Eiffel Tower. Now I’m becoming extremely testy. I look at Mia, who is being very quiet, also with goose bumps and teeth chattering and I say “Are you cold sweet?” She says “Yeah” I say “well put your jumper on”................I reckon you can guess the rest. We arrive at the Eiffel Tower and Kris and I are not happy and the kids are just about blue from the cold so obviously we can’t hang around because they will end up with a cold or illness or something, so, we get off the bus, walk under the Eiffel Tower and keep walking, straight down the road to the next bus stop and straight back home. We had to go back to the apartment to get their jumpers because we weren’t buying them a new jumper at 45 euro a pop regardless of the example we are trying to set. What a wonderful first experience of this iconic structure. By this time the whole experience has been ruined for Kris and me so we decide to can the Eiffel Tower until we are in a better state of mind. We grab some baguettes on our way back to the apartment and we organise plan B. We decide to get back on the bus and take the yellow route up to Montmartre to check out the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur. This is another amazing building perched high up on top of the hill in Montmartre with amazing views over Paris. We took a wander through Montmartre while we were up there and this place is beautiful, little restaurants, little shops and amazing views from every corner. This is the sort of thing you see in postcards. I get a crepe and the kids get some macaroons and the mood is starting to swing. We decide from here to skip going out for dinner, as the meal last night in our first French restaurant was pretty ordinary, not to mention the restaurant was situated in the main gay strip of Paris and my view consisted of lots of men being extremely friendly to each other. Instead we will get something to eat at the apartment and do the Eiffel Tower at night. After a bite to eat we catch a cab, jumpers in backpacks, straight to the Eiffel Tower. We get there at 7:30 (about an hour before the sun goes down) and line up for a ticket. The weather has changed and is turned into a stunning evening. By 8:30 we are heading up the lift towards the second floor. We get out of the lift to see this incredible view of Paris. We have finally made it! The only thing left to do now is go the next step, all the way to the top. Tyler was the first to chicken out and I wasn’t far behind him because that is a long way up (yeah, I’m a girl) so it’s just Kris and Mia. Both are keen but the line is huge. They decide to give it a miss for today. It doesn’t matter anyway; it is awesome right where we are. After an hour or so we head back down via the stairs and take a seat on the grass in the Parc du Champ de Mars. We soak up the view and decide that this was a way better plan than the first one, thanks kids.

Mia’s comments: Today we got ready to go on our second bus tour. We saw the Eiffel Tower. We sat up the top of the bus again and it was windy but it didn’t rain. We got ear plugs to put on so we could hear information. We went to the Eiffel Tower at night and the lights shone all around it. It was cool.

Tyler’s comments: Today we went on our second open top bus tour. We went and saw the Eiffel Tower and then we came back home. After we went to Montmartre and we had macaroons. We saw lots of statues with swords, lots of restaurants and lots of shops. Later we got a cab and we went to the Eiffel Tower. It was very cool. When Daddy and me got to the second floor if we went to the top we would freak but Mia and Mummy wanted to but they didn’t. Then on the grassy part we took photos of the Eiffel Tower. It was really cool.

"Tyler and Mia at the Paris metropolitan"

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur

"Get your filthy hands off my crepe!"

"Mia in Montmartre"

"View down from the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur"

"View from the Eiffel Tower"

"Our Griswold moment"