Paris Blitz

I picked the wrong hotel. The shuttle bus service to the airport/train station was brutal. We waited an hour to get on a bus to get to the train to take us downtown. The connecting train to get us to the Eiffel tower was out of service. Andrew went the wrong way on the mobile walkway, disorienting many rush hour Parisian commuters. The shuttle bus we took went in the opposite direction. We were hungry and jet lagged. Finally, we headed in the right direction and arrived at the Place DES Invalides, which was an appropriate place for our family at that moment. We walked the rest of the way to the Tower. The walk picked up our spirits and, three hours after arriving in the lobby of our hotel to wait for the bus, we arrived at the Eiffel tower at 6:40 local time. We ate ham and cheese crepes and I drank a large beer. The lines to get up the tower were impossible and the place was overrun with east indian men selling Eiffel tower replica key chains (many of them were chased away by security guards), so we crossed the bridge and rode on an old-fashioned two-tiered carousel. The boys loved it and our mood improved. We shared a barbe au papa (cotton candy) and walked along the right bank of the Seine all the way to the Jardin de Tuileries where there was a giant ferris wheel. It was dark when we rode it and we could see Eiffel tower and the rest of Paris all lit up. The boys fell asleep on the train home.

Location:Roissy en France