Day 9: Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Montmarte

This was a full day! We started by going to the Arc de Triomphe. This is amazing...it's situated in a round about where 12 boulevards come together. In France, their roundabouts are the opposite of ours. Whereas here, you yield to those already in the roundabout, in France, you yield to those coming into the roundabout. Plus, around the Arc, there are no lanes, so it's a free for all! How in the world they don't have constant accidents is beyond me! We couldn't go to the top because we were there too early...but we were able to see the tomb of the unknown soldier, and examine the arc up close.In a straight line is the Louve, Toulieres Gardens, Champs Elysses, and then the Arc de Triomphe. It's a hike to get from the Louve to the Arc...and we did not attempt it!
The Eiffel Tower was visibly exciting to the delegation. I don't think there were as many photos taken of anything else. We rode the elevator all the way to the top...well, almost to the top... and then walked a couple of flights of stairs after that to the very top. Of course, the views are amazing. Dominic thrilled me. He has a fear of heights...but didn't let that stop him from going up. Way to go, Dominic!Many of our group wanted to climb the steps in the tower...so on the way down, about 24 of us took the stairs down from the second level to the ground floor. I enjoy the stairs... it's not as crowded, and you get a different perspective.Riding the elevator to the top...Views of Paris from the top of the tower...This photo above is of the Louve...see the glass pyramid?Here you can see how all the boulevards come together at the Arc de Triomphe...

Lunch consisted of escargot and frog legs. The frog legs were delicious...and the escargot was OK...not near as good as the last time I had it here. I'm not sure how many of our group sampled them...I hope a lot did.The church: Sacre Coeur was next...followed by time at Montmarte. There are so many artists there...painting out on the street...they are amazing... there were oil paintings, watercolor paintings and a lot more. I kept trying to justify spending a lot for a painting, but thank goodness another part of my brain talked me out of it! Eloy was especially excited because he saw David Hasselhoff walking around, screamed, and probably didn't make Hasselhoff very excited.

It was a great day!