Day 6 in Paris, Eiffel Tower

                                         

OMGosh!  So happy I slept 12 hours last night.  Some days I wake up at the crack of dawn after 5 hours and other days I just need. to. sleep.  Rarin' to go!  I was thinking about going to the huge Sunday Bastille market today but I got a late start out the door and it is a looong way by subway.  Best to do in the morning.  I still have a couple more Sundays, so it is on my list.  

Instead, I headed out in search of the perfect mille feuille, better known to me as a Napoleon pastry.  Kind of tired of croissants.  I walked west from my apartment to get to Rue Caulaincort where I knew there was a Boulangerie and a Patisserie and hopefully coffee.  Scoring my pastry, I headed for Starbucks, which alas, in Paris, is not on every block.  Since there is that "sweet tooth" temptation here I am thankful for the need to walk everywhere.  After getting my grande fix, I had headed up to the Rue du Abbesses which was just a few blocks away.   I found this to be a sweet road of lots of foodie shops, markets, street minstrels and restaurants and loads of people on a Sunday jaunt.  Since I was full of my petit dejeuner, I was happy to just stroll along and see the sights.  I did stop at a fromagerie to buy a small chunk of very expensive and delicious cheese to take home to my growing stash of totally French picnic foods.   By now, I was about half way around Montmarte hill, so I decided to continue around the hill to get back to my apartment.  MISTAKE.  This took me through a neighborhood of places of "ill repute", sex shows and the like and then on to another neighborhood that seemed to be one cell phone shop after another.  I am totally spoiled with all the eye candy, so I hurried onward to get home.  This little excursion of many miles (I was not wearing my pedometer today), took me 4 hours.  I got home around 2:00 PM, ate my lunch, hung around and decided to trek out again to see the Eiffel Tower up close and personal. 

After studying the map, I took the subway to the other side of the Seine (east bank?, seems south to me)  and set off to walk, thinking it was a short distance.  It wasn't.  But it was a pleasant day, cold, crisp and sunny.  And, of course, the sight of it is stupendous.  Pictures cannot capture the immensity of it.  I love the 4 legged base.  Took lots and lots of pictures from every angle,  side view, low view, full view, front view, view with a tree, view with the carousel, view from on the bridge, view from across the Seine, etc.  With some photoshopping of exposure when I get home, I may have some good shots.  

It is interesting to me that of all the places in Paris, the Eiffel Tower has the LEAST convenient subway access.  I did find a closer one to go home by, but I had to take one south to get to my transfer point to go North to my apartment.  Fortunately, I had a good book to read on my Iphone.  

Love my followers.  Makes me feel like I am traveling with friends!  Pictures of the day:

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