Paris - Tour Eiffel

Sunday morning we woke up late (of course) but still managed to check out the hotel by 11:00. We did not take the RER into Paris but took the car instead. Thanks to GPS we drove more or less straight to the area where we wanted to be, near the Eiffel Tower. Hans parked the car in a parking garage nearby and we walked from there. The tower is quite impressive. The amount of people waiting IN line to get ON the tower was even more impressive. Since there was only one working elevator, they had to stand in line for at least two hours. Hans & Nelson took the other option: the stairs. No queue here. Just need healthy legs and lungs. And up you go. Naomi and I decided to stay at ground level.

ground floor level

Naomi was here too

On the facades of the Eiffel Tower, the names of 72 French scientists, engineers and  other notable people are written in recognition to their contributions.
After repainting the tower in 2010/2011 the capitals were restored to their original gold colour.

just ONE working elevator!!!!!

endless queue of people waiting for the only available working elevator.........                                                        

one of the 4 piliers

ticket booth for "the stairs"

"The Stairs"

Eiffel Tower construction

going up "the stairs"

made it to platform one

amazing view from platform one

I love Eiffel Tower

this is only platform one......

can I make a construction like this?

proud to be here!

Meanwhile Roger was playing against David Goffin at Roland Garros which is only 2 kilometers away from where we were!

Roger   < >   David
5:7, 7:5, 6:2, 6:4

After our visit to the Eiffel Tower, we walked down to the Seine river. We had a snack and then walked back to the parking garage for our final 20 km ride to Orly Airport.

Seine 1

Seine 2

Seine 3

Snacks at the Seine

Seine one more time

Eiffel Tower at Far Right

boooooh, we never used the Metro.......

in the middle of the 6th arrondissment of Paris

oh yes we saw the Notre Dame (from our car)

to the Périphérique?

we made it to Orly Airport without a scratch

our driver today was: HANS

ready to go home

waiting @ Orly Airport

Kids can be so sweet to eachother.....
 LOL!!!

Bye bye Paris!

Welcome back home to Berne!