Paris Day 4 Friday: The Eiffel Tower and the Puppies

We had a late start this morning having all slept a wonderful 11 hours. James woke a little before the rest of us but thought that as breakfast finishes at 9:30 it was best to wake us. We headed for the bus stop late morning and to pass the time while we waited the girls colored their Beauty and the Beast stained glass style coloring book. Then they played “dance class” with James as their dance teacher.

On the bus, Caitlin continued to enjoy sitting by herself until, without thinking, I offered her a banana, of course as soon as she let go of the seat and reached forwarded the bus jerked to a stop and she fell off the seat. Fortunately she was more shocked than hurt. She snuggled with James the rest the rest of the way to the train station (and I dealt with the guilt of instigating the fall ?) Ashley also snuggled up to James and both girls dozed for the rest of the bus ride. We wondered if this boded well for their energy levels for the trip to the Eiffel Tower but it was obviously just a chance to recharge for them because they perked up when we reached the station. We bought our baguette sandwiches and pain au chocolat to eat on the train.

When we reached the Champs du Mars stop it was a short walk to the Eiffel Tower, which never fails to be magnificent and impressive. James and I noted the soldiers walking around each of the four bases of the Tower. There were at least three per base and as they encircled the base they clutched their rifles, which pointed downwards, and were altogether a very intimidating sight. It brought back memories of trips to Belfast as a child and seeing my first guns held by British soldiers.

The girls enjoyed using the camera to take various family photos with the Eiffel Tower behind us. Then we took a deep breath and joined the queue for tickets. Although t took about 45 minutes, the view of the Trocadero on one side and the Ecole Militaire on the other acted as perfect book marks containing the crowds and distracting the eye. Ashley and Caitlin were in great form and occupied their time by playing their game of “Puppy”, where one of them is the puppy and the other the owner. They tied their cardigan (they’ve used string, scarves, and skipping ropes in the past) around the puppy’s waste and walk their puppy. While in line this “walking” meant that the puppy was crawling along the ground and we realized that this made the knees of their clothes and Caitlin’s cardigan (the leash) dirty. But it was a small price to pay for two very content and distracted little girls.

We enjoyed the ride in the elevator to the second floor of the Tower and as we came out of the lift we heard one of the elevator attendants answering questions posed by people of varying nationalities. He was quite the polyglot, slipping with ease from language to language to assist with their queries. In the space of about five minutes of a continuous stream of questions he slipped seamlessly from French to Spanish, to Chinese, to English and what sounded like Polish. It was astonishing, and for me, with my love of languages, very inspiring.

While lining up for tickets the top floor was temporarily closed as it was full and in the end, even when it reopened, we decided that we didn’t want to queue for another 30 minutes and the girls were content just being up on the Eiffel Tower. We particularly enjoyed a little viewing portal that looks down on the ground directly under the Tower. Ashley thought that it was amazing how little everyone looked “just like little dolls.”

We didn’t stay on the Tower for very long before leaving to walk the short distance to the playground in the Champs du Mars (park) in front of the Eiffel Tower. We spent over an hour there, the girls thoroughly enjoying the structures and the sandpit, and James and I enjoying some quite time on one of the benches enjoying the view of the Eiffel Tower as it dominated the background.

When we returned to St Quentin we shopped at the supermarket to pick up a little picnic dinner that included delicious French LIU brand biscuits. We enjoy some of their products in Seattle but, naturally, the range of products available here is more extensive. We ended the evening with a little family session at the play table building towering structures with the Kapla blocks. After a short turn on the Playstation running Spiderman around the town, the girls were finally ready for bed.

Ashley announced today that she wants to be a little French girl before she is a little Japanese girl. Cailtin’s word for today was ‘bonjour’ (hello) and Ashley’s was ‘Oui’ (yes). Perhaps we have our own little polyglots in the making ?