Six go adventuring: Les grands monuments

Monday 2 June 2014

Blog post by the mother

The day of the Eiffel Tower has finally arrived! We took the metro to Iena and then walked along to the Troacadero. The highlight of the day was the kids gasp of wonder as we rounded a corner and suddenly there was the Eiffel Tower in all its glory. The photo below is what they saw but unfortunately doesn't really reflect how imposing the tower is when you see it up close for the first time.

I will apologise now for the plethora of Eiffel Tower photos in this blog but really, it had to be done. A family photo with RJ before we crossed the Pont d'Iena.

When we arrived at the tower the queue for lift tickets was already winding around the courtyard. We had already decided that we were going to climb the stairs so we headed straight over to West pillar and stood in line behind one other couple to get our tickets. The kids were determined to count how many stairs they had climbed but after the first 200 stairs arguments began about the accuracy of the counting. Fortunately a kind woman behind us pointed out that the number of stairs was painted on every tenth step - thank goodness. The kids were amazing and were up to the first floor in no time. Voila the view from the first floor.

The climb to the second floor was also easily achieved. The second floor was a lot more crowded as this is where the lifts stop but the views were amazing. Below is a photo looking up to the top of the tower from the second floor.

The walk back down the tower was a lot less strenuous than going up. I think the kids all feel a great sense of achievement from having made it up the tower under their own steam and that it has made the experience even more meaningful for them.

After the tower we walked along beside the Seine to the Allee de Cygnes which is a very thin little island in the middle of the Seine. There is a pathway down the middle which was well used by runners and dog walkers and at the end is a miniature version of the Statue of Liberty.

Here is another view of La Tour Eiffel from the Alle des Cygnes.

After doing a fair amount of walking we were all glad to get onto the RER and head along to Invalides. The girls were very impressed by the RER train which was a double decker and was decorated inside to look like the Palace of Versailles. We crossed the very beautiful Pont Alexandre III and then walked up to the Champs Elysees.

We stopped for lunch and wee bit of shopping on the Champs Elysees. This sounds much fancier than the reality which was lunch at a sandwich shop and shopping for food at Monoprix and M&S (I was desperate for English breakfast tea!). We walked the length of the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. The traffic around it wasn't as manic as I remember but still enough to make us glad that there is a pedestrian underpass.

All national monuments and museums are free to enter for under 18 year olds which has impressed me greatly. We bought tickets to go up to the top of the Arc and the kids gamely tackled another 284 stairs to get to the top. The views are totally worth the climb. Below is looking back along the Champs Elyseea.