The Eiffel Tower!!

We saw it from afar all day and we were so excited to finally go see the Eifell Tower up close. Here we are on the bus tour listening to our French music and our tour guide tell us about the sites of Paris....getting closer!

As a 'thank you' they named a street after President Wilson for helping with something. For the life of me, I can't remember what he helped with!! That's terrible...I'll have to do some research. But at least I got a picture for when I do get the information :) I'm halfway there aren't I??

As we were walking around the tower and Champ-de-Mars (gardens stretching from teh Eiffel Tower to the Ecole Militaire) we saw some more bachelors and bachelorettes on their parties like we saw in Cologne, Germany. Since Cologne, we found out that this bachelor party is common in big cities and they are a way for the bride/groom to raise money for the wedding/reception/honeymoon, etc. This groom-to-be was being sent on a scavenger hunt and we were the lucky girls he had to ask to try and find a condom...however with his accent it sounded like "cone-dome". He was certainly out of luck, but he was nice enough to pose for a picture...and offer us some toilet paper. Such a nice guy!

Finally...we're here!!! The magnificent Eiffel Tower!

Don't let the clear blue skies fool you. It was FREEZING while we were at the tower. It would cloud up and rain then the skies would be clear the next minute...but the cold wind never left. Here we are ICE COLD while waiting in line to go to the top of the tower. We had to laugh at how cold it must be at the very top...but of course we weren't turning back now! We thawed out later...

Here we are riding the lift to the second level which is 376 feet high. The line we were in went to the lift and not the stairs...kind of sad we didn't walk it, but my legs were not. The lift has glass walls and I was lucky enough to be pushed all the way against the wall on the ride up. I am not afraid of heights...but I must admit it was kind of scary going up that high and not having anything but a piece of glass holding me in...and I could see the ground below getting further and further away. Mental note to myself to ride in the middle of the lift on our way to the top level!!!

Here we are on the second level looking up at the top! The second level felt much higher than I thought it would. To be honest, after the ride to the second level we second guessed ourselves going to the top. But of course we had to go!!

Our view of the Champ-de-Mars and the Ecole Militair (royal military academy at the end of the gardens) from the second level. Unfortunately, this is the last picture I was able to take. After a whole day of pictures and turning my camera on and off...the battery died. However, my camera lasting from 9 a.m - 7 ish with contant pictures was pretty good! Luckily, Leslie is smart enough to have extra batteries for her camera so we were still in good shape!!

And one final picture of the day. We attempted to do a jumping shot before this one...and I practically fell on my face. I guess forgot I actually had to land the jump too! Leslie just got done saying...that no one was watching, but when I almost fell, some American tourists completely busted out laughing. Of course, I'm used to making a fool of myself...so this wasn't unusual :) The girl (who we think was on her honeymoon) took this picture for us. We were laughing so hard afterward and me making a fool of myself that we almost peed our pants. I said ALMOST!!