Benodust: dec 19, 2013 PARIS

The Christmas holiday started friday 12/19. we picked corri up from school and headed to paris. for the next few weeks we will be on the road. from paris to germany, to turkey, to not sure yet. corrinne has been jones-ing to see the Eiffel Tower for some time now. here was her chance. cindy was able to rent a small apartment with a reasonable view of the tower so we were able to see it the night we arrived. very special. the majority of the first day was spent at the Eiffel Tower. climbed the stairs about 1/3 the way up and then took an elevator to the top. fantastic views of the city. very cold but fab. that eve we went to see the christmas lights in the shopping district and then back to the tower on time to see the tower light up like a sparkling Christmas tree. A fine time had by everyone in paris. The next day i woke up earlier then the ladies and headed to the corner cafe. I nursed a cappuccino for an hour while i observed the Cheers-like atmosphere. the barista knew most of the folks that came in and had their coffee in the works before they sat down everyone knew everyone. this is what starbucks was probably aiming for when they started. later we visited notre dame cathedral where they were in the middle of mass. the choir was fantastic. next, off to the arc de triomphe, then strolled down the famous shopping street champs-elysees , thru a long Christmas market and ended at the louve. by that time everyone was tired so it made no sense to try and conquer the louve. and the line was very long, even at 4 pm. seeing the mona-lisa will have to wait for another time. back to the apartment for a bit of down time, out to look at the tower one last time, then to dinner were cindy claims to have the best salad of her life. very exciting. up tomorrow @ five am for flight to germany.

at the airport duty shop in Paris, CM's first sighting of the tower

our second sighting of the tower. this from our bedroom window

when we arrived at the Eiffel Tower park Corrinne saw two college girls doing the Eiffel Tower leap. what big girls do, she does.

another leap

monkey see

The one and only

at the top very feeeeeeezing

there is a champagne bar at the top. you are supposed to drink Champagne when you reach the top. everybody's doing it. some say they don't remember walking down.