A weekend trip to Paris #1 Eiffel Tower

We have been wanting to take the kids to Paris for quite awhile, and we found the perfect opportunity to take a Friday off, and have a 3 day weekend touring Paris.
We were up early Friday morning and in Paris by 9.30, bags checked into the hotel and ready to walk to the "Tour Eiffel" (as they say in French). We were expecting rain, but the day was cold with clear blue skies. It was the perfect day to take the kids to the top.
Our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, the building to the right is the Australian Embassy...not a bad view for the staff there!! The flag above the kids is the Australian Flag, but now windy enough to see it properly.
We lined up for a while and eventually got our tickets. We were offered Eiffel tower key rings every minute or so for the half an hour we lined up. Prices varied from 2 per Euro down to 6 per Euro! We finally got our tickets, and had 45 minutes before we were to go up the tower. We went for a walk in Parc du Champ de Mars, directly behind the Eiffel tower. We stopped for the kids to have a run around, and to take a few photos.

We lined up again to go through at 12:30 to line up for security so we could line up for the first elevator to the second level. When we got there, we lined up for the lift to the 'sommit'. It was cold and clear, and at the second level the wind blew in cold and chilled us all (even with many layers). Eventually we entered the tiny lift and made it to the top.

The views from the observation deck were stunning. We spent some time looking around Paris, and Cameron was really impressed that he could go to the toilet and everything would fall 324m to ground level. We then queued up to catch the elevator back down. It was a good thing it was 'low season' - in summer the lines and the waiting are at least twice as long! As we were in the various lines, the boys were regailing us with facts and figures, like how high it was, how old it was, and lots of intersting facts about how and why it was built. (It has 1665 stairs and is 324m tall, for example).


I think we were really fortunate to be able to share the Eiffel tower with the boys on such a great day - they (and we) had a fantastic time!


We next walked through the Palais de Chaillot and found a small baguetterie for a late lunch.