Riding the fast lane

Big day sightseeing today!
Started the day with a bike tour around the city. 3 hours of riding (about 12kms) on the roads of Paris. Tour guide Audrey stayed up the front the whole time and had a ball. She handled the riding and instruction beautifully. We threw Miss Olive on a tandem bike with Nick, because we didn’t think our hearts could take letting Olive loose on the roads in Paris by herself. France isn’t ready for that yet. She had a BALL. The entire tour could hear her chatting and singing away along the streets. Nick was a little less charmed… being unable to get away from her nattering 😄.
The Eiffel Tower was on our ‘to do’ itinerary… it was… somewhat difficult! Our first attempt failed (half way through the security line we were told the top was closed temporarily due to maintenance, assured it would be open again in 15 mins). We waited in the ticket line (yep- as long as you would imagine) for the next 30+ mins and still no top open… decided to return later when it was open (it was such a spectacular rare blue sky day).
Took a Cruise down the Seine river (beautiful, but Olive’s resilience was waning and she decided she didn’t like boats… I’ll let you fill in the blanks of that story…).
So we decided we hadn’t punished ourselves enough today, and returned to the Eiffel Tower around dusk for a second attempt. Success! Top wad open! Stood in the ticket line (luckily a briefer line this time) aaaand half way through a big red sign flashes up with words I now officially hate ‘Sommet Ferme’ 🙄🙄 ‘top closed’. Due to capacity. Dear Gertrude heavens above. Making lemonade out of lemons. So we made it to the 2nd level. And it was spectacular. My love- mostly hate relationship with heights again waved it’s hand, but the beautiful sunset over Paris, the tower being lit up and catching the first glittering lights for the night together was truly magical. It was breathtakingly cold, and we didn’t last up there long (we did for once let the girls slowly explore the gift shop- it was heated!), but after all of the hassle it really was worth it. A beautiful way to end the day and a very special memory for us all.
Very tired little girls with a huge bike ride and over 18000 steps. Certainly working for those daily eclairs!Read more