The Big Kahuna

Et maintenant, finalement, je vous presente:

Le Tour d'Eiffel

After the Louvre, Kelsey and I were discussing how lovely the night was, and somehow I ended up mentioning my plan to go to the Eiffel Tower that night. She lives in that direction, right off the Champs-Elysee, and was also planning on making the trip, so we decided to go together. 

Neither of us had either been yet (this particular time in Paris), and both of us hadn't quite mentally gotten to the point of "I'm in Paris!!" And so we set off.

Our first view!!

The Metro that goes near the Eiffel Tower actually goes above ground for a time, which is always exciting. Who doesn't want to actually be able to see the city while you commute? When the Tower suddenly came into view, we both started hopping around in excitement and took pictures frantically. 

What, tourists, us? You must be joking. 

You walk up to it and you think, "Huh, that's pretty big." You get closer, right in front of it. "Yup, pretty big." Then, you look under it, and see the size of the people under it. And then you realize, "Holy Mackerel, this thing is HUGE!!" 

Yes indeedy, pretty big. 

As we wandered up to, through, and to the other side, guy after guy after guy tried to sell us these little light-up Eiffel Towers. Every single vendor had the exact same merchandise. At some point, you have to wonder at their thought process: if I made it through the last eleven guys and didn't buy anything, why am I going to buy the exact same thing from you? I guess you have to admire that kind of eternal optimism... eh. Jury's still out on the admiration thing. 

Starting after dark (currently at 18h, or 6pm, I believe), the tower sparkles every hour on the hour until midnight. 

It's unbelievably cold, but it's sparkly! And it's the EIFFEL TOWER!

We knew it was going to sparkle, but we weren't aware of the time, so when it suddenly flashed on, we both let out loud squeaks and started jumping again, taking pictures and videos and really amusing/annoying the nearby vendors. And once it stopped, we hightailed it back to the Metro and went our separate ways, trying desperately to return feeling to our fingers and noses. As we left, we both decided that we were now officially in Paris. 

An excellent day all around.