Happy birthday Emily - I hope
Patrick's little offering didn't leave you feeling too underwhelmed. And happy
birthday too to Ian.
My apologies (to anyone who is
even remotely interested in what we are doing) for the delay in recent blogs.
Firstly too tired at night. Secondly, because of the nature of the hotel's
Wi-Fi, we had to access the internet down in the lobby, and because of the
firstly, I didn't fancy going downstairs to post this. And thirdly, we are
really doing this primarily for ourselves as a bit of a reminder and a diary, so
I'm really not too bothered if anyone is upset by my tardiness. Also, if anyone
is wondering why none of the kids is eagerly trying to push their way onto this
thing and add their two cents worth, it's hard enough to get them to brush
their teeth at the end of the day, so please forgive them for not lending their
own perspective to our journey. End of rant.
Breakfast - a chocolate croissant
from a pastry shop in the shopping arcade under the hotel. If this is standard
fare for the French, it still doesn't surprise me that there is not more
obesity in France than there apparently isn't - going up and down the steps of
the Metro alone each day is, I imagine, enough of an exercise to keep anyone
trim and in good shape.
Caught the hop-on, hop-off bus to
the Eiffel Tower, and took the Harpers' (Ali and Rachel's) advice to avoid the
queue for the lift from ground floor, but instead walk up 2 surprisingly brisk
flights and catch the lift to the top from there - thanks girls! Although I'm
not too sure how thankful the less energetic members of our travel party were -
not naming any names girls, O.K.? Had a bit of a stroke of luck, especially that
everything has gone so smoothly so far. Whilst in the queue to take the final
leg via elevator to the top, I suddenly realised (as we neared the end of the
queue) that I only had 3 tickets in my hands. After a short agonised period of
self-flagellation for having been so careless, and looking around quizzically,
a very kind person saw our obvious disquiet and made mention that she had seen
a ticket lying on the ground a short way back. After a relatively short, yet
still embarrassingly undignified trek back through the crowd I was able to
locate the errant piece of cardboard. Crisis averted and tour continued. Spectacular
view from the top and really, really high up. Not much more to say. I'm also probably
not allowed to mention that someone spent €10 on a (plastic) glass of champagne at the top, so I won't.
When we got back to ground level I got scammed out of €1 by a gypsy purporting to be
collecting signatures in aid of deaf mutes. We then had a fairly leisurely
lunch (baguettes - of course) in what would have been the shadow of the Tower
if the sun had been facing the right way. Next stop the Arc de Triomphe -
another stupendously large edifice that we got to climb. Magnificent views of
the 12 avenues/boulevards leading into the centre, and the maniacal drivers who
manage to manoeuvre [note the use of the french-derived word] their way around
it, with no road markings to guide 5 lanes of traffic coming in at each entry
point, and finding their way around to exit in a seemingly smooth and
relatively effortless fashion - makes the Britannia roundabout look rather
quaint and pedestrian.
Dinner simply had to be at the
O'Jules restaurant just opposite our hotel. Not quite the rustic feel that last
night's meal had, but still very pleasant, and again, the staff were extremely
pleasant and accommodating.
Reflection on our first week - very quick would seem to be the
main comment, but still very enjoyable. Kids have taken a lot in, and to my
embarrassment, are actually taking in a lot more than I initially thought that
they would. Pleasingly too I also think they appreciate what a privilege it is
for them to be undertaking this trip, which is good, because it means we can
probably hold it against them for many years to come.
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