Una mesa para seis - Table for Six: Paris Trip Last Day - Eiffel Tower and Jardin d'Acclimatation

Tuesday April 7th, was our last day in Paris, so we needed to finally climb up the Eiffel Tower. Since we were going to walk up the tower, my parents opted out and spent the morning cleaning the apartment and packing. The tower opened at 9:30am, so we were aiming to arrive there at 9:30 to avoid a long line-up. We got there just after 9:30, but there was already a pretty long line-up to go up the stairs. When we looked at the line, we wondered if it was really the line for the stairs because there were all sorts of people in line, seniors, small children, even a couple with a baby, women in high heels etc... Fortunately the line moved steadily, but we were in line for about 40min before we reached the ticket booth. An adult ticket to climb the stairs is €5 as opposed to €9 to take the elevator to the 2nd floor. The benefit of the stairs is that the line moves much quicker than the line for the elevator, but you cannot access the 3rd floor by the stairs. If you want to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower you have to take the elevator and so you have to buy another ticket on the 2nd floor. We were happy just going to the 2nd floor.

Once we started up the stairs, I quickly realized that it wasn't that hard of a climb. The kids could have ran all the way up to the first floor if there weren't so many people in front of them. We stopped briefly on the 1st floor to take a look at the view and then made our way to the second floor. Again, climbing to the second floor was no problem at all. I am sure that my parents could have done it.

We went around the 2nd floor, looking at the view from each side of the tower, and then as there was really nothing else to do, we started back down to the first floor. On the first floor we watched a short movie on the making of the Eiffel Tower, then we headed back down to the ground. So all in all, it was not very difficult taking the stairs up the Eiffel Tower, and it only takes about 15min to reach the 1st floor and another 15min to reach the second floor.

After our Eiffel Tower visit, we headed over to the Jardin d'Acclimatation in the Bois de Boulogne. This is another place that I visited when I was a child living in Paris, but it has changed a lot. We met my parents at the park at around 1:30pm. Regular park entrance fee is €3/person, but since we have more than 2 children, we all got the reduced rate of €1.50. The biggest change in the park is the huge Fondation Louis Vuitton. It's a building designed by Frank Gehry, very impressive and surrounded by cool fountains.

We had lunch and then let the kids go on a couple of rides. For 35 Euros we got 15 tickets and most rides were one ticket so Grandpa bought an extra ticket and the kids got to go on 4 rides each. Not all the rides were open, so 4 rides was enough. On this particular Tuesday afternoon, the park was pretty empty except for 100 or so orthodox Jews. It must have been a special Jewish day, but there were no line-ups at all for any of the rides which was great. The kids also enjoyed the many playgrounds in the park. My parents tried to visit the Fondation Louis Vuitton, but unfortunately it was closed on Tuesdays. Something I forgot to check before I made the plans. In any case, it was a beautiful sunny day and they kids had a great time, probably the highlight of their trip.

We headed back to the apartment to pack everything up and our Bluvan was waiting outside for us at 6:30pm. We got to the Beauvais airport by 8pm and our plane didn't leave until 9:40pm. You would think that we had plenty of time, but airport security is so slow at the Beauvais airport that as soon as we got through security it was time to board the plane.

After a short flight it was good to be back in Barcelona and we were happy that Grandma and Grandpa could spend another week with us here.