Yes, it's worth the trip

Ok, so we've been here a few days and haven't written very much. Chalk it up to exhaustion: by the time we get back from running around all day, eat, and then go out again, we're totally spent, to say nothing of the fact that it's usually around midnight by then. So we've got plenty of photos, but not a lot of spare time to write it all down. For anyone who may care about what we're actually doing, sorry about that. We'll get it all up here eventually.

Anyway, last night was an amazing adventure...the Eiffel Tower. Obviously it's the stereotypical landmark of Paris, but in person it is truly amazing. We went out around 10 pm (the recommendation that the night views are gorgeous was spot on), got there about 10:30, rode all the way to the top, came back down, rode the carousel across the street, got a crepe and ate it sitting by the Seine, went to the subway only to discover it closed, and then took a cab home. By then it was 2 am and we were completely wiped out. Our (well, my) dream of sleeping late was then disrupted by a call from our "landlord" who wanted to meet and give us some recommendations for things to see and do, which we had asked for in the first place. Then again, that's probably the start of a separate entry, so here's some photos/video of last night's trip. (I know the ladies both have tons of photos/video too, so we will probably post better stuff from this trip later).

just off the Metro, target spotted

getting closer...

almost there...

I know, enough already, right?

ohhhhhhh, another carousel!
but this one was two stories tall!

finally there! now to get to the top.

going up!

wait, this is only the second level?

this was in a tiny room at the top, a wax recreation
of Eiffel receiving Thomas Edison as a visitor
when the tower opened in 1889

back on the ground (whew!),
cool view from underneath

did I mention this is the 3rd carousel we've ridden?

  

fun fun fun!

the ostrich was my favorite

crepe making magic!

do you see how happy she is?
a delicious (past) midnight crepe,
sitting riverside in Paris with the family.
finding moments like this is why we came.

every hour on the hour each night the tower goes dark
and they light it up with sparkling lights for five minutes.
this is the last showing at 1am before it went dark for the day.
words can't describe how beautiful it was to watch together.

(Ok, I'm having trouble getting the videos to upload and it's getting late. I have another one of the elevator rides to the top, but will try to get it up later)