Some days are like that

Let's draw a veil over yesterday. Susanne and Ari arrived, hit hard by jetlag. Their apartment had some problems, some of them were solved, it took virtually all day. Enough said.
This morning is rather cloudy but the forecast is for sun and about 77F degrees. We're off to the Eiffel Tower, first stop on Ari's list, and then wherever the Parisian winds take us...if we can all stay awake. We'll post more later.

Later, much later:

It was fun taking Ari to the Eiffel Tower, but it certainly wasn't the direct route. We walked from our place just off rue Montorgueil in the 2nd to Place des Victoires,
through the beautiful Gallerie Vivienne with its glass roof and mosaic floors,




through the Palais Royal gardens




to a stop for coffee at Café de Nemours in front of the Comèdie Française. From there a stroll to rue de Rivoli to pick up a bus to take us along the Tuileries gardens, the Champs Elysées and the Seine, ending at Place d'Iena, directly across the river from the Eiffel Tower.




By that time we all had lunch in mind and climbed the steps to Trocadero where we chose from one of the pleasant terrasses and were very good, until the tiramisu. Hey, it's Paris, we can have dessert!


After crossing the river, we walked under the Eiffel Tower(the wait to go up was too long), where two men in red jumpsuits with lots of cable attachments on them were standing next to ropes hanging from the first level of the tower...we had to ask.




They were sapeurs-pompiers, French firefighters, on a training exercise. These particular guys had already climbed up the structure and were now waiting for their colleagues to rappel down. The best part was what was waiting for them all at the end: bottles of water and bags of potato chips. I'd be demanding champagne and caviar, moi!!