Eiffel Tower & Notre Dame Cathedral

Today is the one full day of Paris that we get. We stopped at a restaurant on the way to the metro and had a typical French breakfast.
The days have been long so far, but this one will be the longest. Partly because it was warm.
The previous couple of days had so much walking and stairs, it took it's toll on Linda. She went back to the hotel while the rest of us headed back to the tower to stand in line for an hour and a half. She would meet us at Notre Dame when we were ready.
For the tower, there are options to go all the way to the top or just to the second level. You can pay a little less and walk the 700 steps to the 2nd level and then take the elevator the rest of the way up. If we came this far, we might as well go all the way via the elevator. The kids saved me a little money for once. If you are under 25 you pay kids prices. Go figure.
There are signs everywhere to warn you of pick pockets. Adam thinks he spotted one at the metro station the night before and I think he's right. I've kinda done this thing for the last 29 years...
To get to the top, you take a crowded elevator up part way. Then transfer to an equally crowded elevator to the top. And the view was great. I an still amazed at how tightly packed French cities are, and Paris is the rule.

We've seen some big churches on this trip but Notre Dame was the biggest of them all. The line was long getting in but it moved quickly. There were military members patrolling here with automatic weapons like they were at the tower and Mont St. Michele. It didn't bother me, but it's a shame that it's a necessity. The US should feel fortunate that we are not to this point yet.
Construction began in 1163 and a neat exhibit shows the different phases of the 800 years of construction, of how it went from a small church to the fabled Cathedral that inspired movies.
It is nice but I can only imagine how much poverty could have been relieved with the money it took to build this.Read more