also in England: Day 2 - Girls On A Mission

With it clearly in our sights - it was Le Tour Eiffel or bust.

We bought ourselves a pass and took the Metro to (what I thought was) a stop near the Notre Dame where we could catch the Batobus.

After a bit of walking we made it back to Notre Dame, but this time we actually went in. The stained glass was just as beautiful as I remembered.

We got on the boat and got off at every stop.

The first stop got us nearly to the Louvre. We walked over and popped in to see the Nike (one of my top 3 favorite sculptures) and take a peek at Mona's Smile. Okay, so I held Laney up to see the thing and off we went. It's a must see, b-u-u-u-t-t, not a real favorite of mine.

We walked around the gardens taking photos and just minding our own business...

And then out of nowhere our "little french girl" was accosted by a group of paparatzi posing as tourists. I wasn't too worried given the extensive security (yep, those guys in the bushes with machine guns), but still the poor thing wasn't sure what to do.

After a short while, surprise, surprise, Laney was hungry so we had lunch at an outdoor typical Parisian cafe.

Then it was back to the boat - this time we got off at the Champs-Elysees stop.

As we headed down the tree lined street we came across a crepe stand. Another must for Laney and it did not disappoint
.

A bit of shopping and it was back on the boat if we were going to get to that tower. Well, okay we took the Metro back to the Louvre so we wouldn't have to walk so far - it took more time, but our dogs were barking. Finally we were back on the boat and 5 mintues away from the creshendo of the day Laney fell asleep. If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it is never wake a sleeping child. So, we stayed on the boat for the full 1 hour and 45 minute circle and then we had arrived. Laney's excited giggle had everyone on the boat just as excited. We made our way over, but it was surprisingly crowded. Not only was there a huge soccer (oh, excuse me, football) match, but some imbicile was trying to set a world record by roller blading off the Eiffel Tower. It was a mad house. There were so many people crowed around the base of the tower that I began to panic - those sotries of people being trampled to death in crowds kept playing through my head. It really was scary to not be able to move so we decided to retreat from the crowd a bit and sit and have, you guessed it, another snack. French fries this time, but somehow fries taste just a bit better when eating them under the Eiffel tower.

(If you look carefully to the right of the photo you may see what we saw from the young and old a few times in this otherwise lovey city. Thank goodness we already ate!)