Jam Packed Day!! - UPDATED 8/1

Updated!!! (8/1)

Sunday July 26

WOW! What a day this has been. We have been all over Paris and seen some amazing sights. We began at the Eiffel Tower at 9 a.m. It did not get busy / crowed / over run with tourists until about 10 a.m. so we were able to get an unobstructed view of Paris from the upper level. What a magnificent day. The temperature was comfortable, the sun was out, and the sky was blue. We took lots and lots of pictures - just to show EVERYONE all of the amazing sights we’ve seen!

We all rode the elevators (the first one rose diagonally) to the very top of the Eiffel tower and immediately met another delegation of People to People! There were tons of us in Paris and we kept crossing paths - crazy, but always amusing.

We were scheduled to go to lunch across town near the Arc de Triomphe, but there was QUITE a bit of traffic around town and it took what seemed like forever to get there. You see, The Arc de Triomphe is situated on the Champs Elysees at a busy round about. Now I know what you are thinking, well of course there is traffic at the Arc de Triomphe round about - why wouldn’t there be? WELL, the round about was closed! Why? Because today was stage 21 of the Tour de France - the final stage - the finish line - the grande finale of French finales AND we were there! OK, so we weren’t there for the actual finish… We had other important places to be at that time… but we were there around noon when all the fans were busily claiming their spaces on the sidewalk all along the Champs Elysees. It was thrilling to be in such an auspicious space for a little while. We crossed underneath the street to get to the Arc de Triomphe and spend some quality time with this gigantic monument. A few of us even climbed / raced to the top of the monument to get a view of the city from there.

Well, we finally made it to lunch and took a break from all the hoopla. Before we knew it we were being whisked away by our coach, away from the Champs Elysees and over to Montmartre and Sacre-Coeur. We climbed the 300 meter hill to the top and were at the foot of the beautiful Sacre-Coeur Basilica. After a leisurely walk through the church as a group, we met and made a plan for the rest of our afternoon. The area surrounding Sacre Coeur is a mecca for artists and creative endeavors and we were given some free time to explore the streets behind Sacre Coeur. Many of us bought delicious ice cream! It was relaxing to have time to stroll around the cobblestone streets and little shops with new friends and search for trinkets and treasures to bring home to old friends and family. Again, the weather was simply marvelous and time flew right on by. We met at the bottom of Montmartre and discovered it was time for… DINNER!

So, we’ve been eating lots of chicken and fries as of late and were getting a little tired of the monotony. Luckily, our dinner tonight would be tremendously different. We had the opportunity to sample escargot AND frog’s legs! All of us (well, almost all of us) bravely sampled each delicacy and… survived! Just wait until you see some of the before and after pictures from this dinner!

And off we went to our hotel… and… to.. Bed? Au contraire, mon frere. Non non non, messieur! We had an EXTRA special adventure planned for our last night in Paris. We were able to arrange a night-time visit back to the Eiffel Tower. We changed and took some time to assemble ourselves in the lobby for an 8:30 pm departure. We took the Metro to the plaza above the tower and marveled at the sight. We arrived just before 10 p.m. and it was finally dark. At exactly 10 p.m. the Eiffel Tower erupted in lights - just like the twinkling lights on a Christmas tree.. But 1,000 times more magnificent! This continued for a full 5 minutes. We walked down to the tower, took some pictures and had about a half hour of free time before meeting up again at 10:50 for our walk back up to the plaza and the Metro. We had great timing, too, because, just as we reached the plaza, it was 11 p.m. and the tower lights went off again! Amazing!