Eiffel Tower

Amy and I went to the conference reception last night. We talked with several interesting people, including George Hart. We then went back to our Hotel to drop off our stuff before going out again. Our plan was to head over to the Eiffel Tower.



We took the metro and walked through the big park at the base of the tower. There were lots of people, lots of alcohol and lots of street vendors with roses, trinkets and flying-light-up toys. We walked from there to Rue Cler to have dinner. This is a small, intimate street with shops and local people all out eating. You wait in the narrow street for a table where you want to eat. We waited for Cafe du Marche and got a table fairly quickly. It was 9:00 at night, the prime time for eating in France. I know now why it is not highly recommended to eat beef in Paris. The salad was good. Parisians are notoriously slow eaters - dinner is an occasion. We were hoping to finish and get back to the park to see the Tower "glisten" at the top of the hour (lots of lights that strobe all over the tower at the top of every hour for five minutes). We didn't make the 10:00, but meandered through a grocery store for chocolate, water and cookies. Then we walked through the sea of humanity under the tower and over the Seine and up to the Trocadero for the 11:00 lights. It was worth waiting for, but the photos do not do it justice.






We then took the metro back to the hotel. We were careful to go the right way, unlike Amy did earlier in the day. After following my lead and walking for about 5 minutes, Amy recognized that we were in fact not going in the correct direction. (The dinner wine was that good). We did get headed in the right direction and found our way back to the hotel.