Tag Archives: le seine

Along Le Seine

After we finished at the Eiffel Tower, we walked along Le Seine, on the way to Musee D’Orsay.  The skies threatened to unleash, but no rain ever actually came down.

The Grand Palais

The Grand Palais left, Pont Alexandre III middle, Petit Palais right

The Grand Palais, from across the river

The view from Pont Alexandre III

Petit Palais

The Grand Palais

Pont Alexandre III

Pont Alexandre III

Pont Alexandre III

The Louvre, from across the river

Musee D’Orsay
There was a line approximately 2 hours long just to get into the museum, so we decided to pass.  Instead, we crossed the river to the Louvre and Jardin Tuileries.  And there was a line 3 hours long to get into the Louvre, so we skipped that too.  Instead, we went for a stroll in the garden.

The gardens themselves were not in very good condition.  It was almost as if they grounds crew had given up on trying to keep them nice.  Also, there were people EVERYWHERE, being loud and obnoxious.  Luckily you can’t hear them in the pictures.
We followed the garden to Place de la Concorde, then wandered some more on some quieter streets.

After dinner, we walked back to Pont Alexandre III for a view of the sights by night.

Posted in photography, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Le Tour Eiffel

Knowing it would be crowded, we left the hotel in plenty of time to arrive at the Eiffel Tower before it even opened.  We waited in line that really wasn’t very long for an elevator to take us to the 2nd level.  It was bit overcast and grey, but the worst part was fending off the strange men who peddle their crap to everyone in line.  Primarily they are selling cheap models of the tower, in different sizes.  You get to pick 3 or 4 for just 1 Euro!  Such a deal.  Until the thing breaks or you get lead poisoning from it.  Anyway, they were EVERYWHERE and don’t seem to take a hint in any language. 
Those of you that know me probably know that I hate elevators.  I hate riding in them, seeing them, hearing them, anything.  It all goes back to an episode of a TV show called Probe (but that’s another story).  So riding 3 elevators to 1000 feet is not my favorite. But, I did pretty well.  I knew a great deal of the history about the building of the tower, and Otis’ contribution to it.  The ride was very smooth, and I just concentrated on the engineering of it all, rather than the fact I was stuck in a box climbing a structure. 
That said, the views were great, and it really is an impressive structure.

 

Yep, we’re going even higher.

Apparently, pickpockets are red in France.  Very convenient. 
We rode the elevator back to the second floor, then walked down the stairs from the 2nd floor to the 1st level.  I highly recommend using the stairs at some point.  You can see the iron work as well as get a great view of the elevator system.  

Oh yeah.  By the way, it’s brown.  Had no idea. 

A very expensive restaurant in the tower
As I took this one, I got a few weird looks… and some copycats. 

Walking down Le Seine
More from our afternoon in the next post.
Posted in photography, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment