Paris: Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame de Paris, and Big Bus

While visiting Paris I needed to visit the iconic Eiffel Tower. (39 Euro value.) To avoid long lines I signed up for 9 am- the first slot. Now the tour operator asks participants to arrive 15 minutes early. Since I would be taking public transport for the first time, I decided to err on the side of caution and go even earlier. The Metro system is fairly efficient and once you get the hang of it not too difficult to navigate.

Using the Metro

For visitors to Paris, there is a pass that allows you to choose 1-5 days of limitless travel on the buses and subways. My only problem was it asks which zones you would like and I had no idea what I would need. To help you it asks for the name of at least two stations and tells you the zones for those. Since I had to pick at least two zones I went with 1-3. Zone 1 includes many of the tourist attractions. It cost me about 11 euros for a 24-hour pass. Each ride would be a little more than 2 euros, so about 5 trains or buses.

To get to the Eiffel Tower I needed to take 2 metro lines and then walk about 12 minutes. I arrived 30 minutes early and there already was a short line forming to get in as soon as it opened.

Eiffel Tower

Now, to be honest, at first sight, I thought it was ugly as sin. This giant iron monstrosity looked like a hooker that just crawled out of bed with messy hair and smeared make-up. Dawn is not her best look.

If I had done this on my own I would have finished the whole thing in under an hour. Yes, even walking up those stairs. While the Tower has a total of 1,665 steps from the ground to the top, you can only climb 674 of them, from the ground to the second floor (327, then 347 steps). You cannot take the stairs to the top from the second floor, as this section is not open to the public for safety reasons. To go from the second floor to the top, you have to take the Duolift elevators.

The original staircase and the one that still exists from the second floor to the top is a narrow spiral staircase that ensures that if someone stops on the way up everyone has to stop or push them onward.

Piece of the original staircase on display

Now the stairs are wider so people who aren’t athletic (hand raised) can take breaks without slowing down the flow of traffic. The views of Paris as you ascend are breathtaking and she got better looking the more I learned about her.

One of the views that highlights old Paris on the right bank vs newer Paris on the left bank.

If you would like to learn more about the tower here is a website with all kinds of interesting tid bits. The Eiffel tower 130 years – OFFICIAL Eiffel Tower (toureiffel.paris)

I had mentioned that the trip would have been much quicker on my own, and I do think we spent way too much time on the bottom talking, but I don’t think I would have learned as much if I hadn’t listened to my Canadian tour guide David. He’s lived there for 14 years and has a passion for the history of France.

Notre-Dame de Paris

Unless you’ve been living in a box everyone heard about the tragic fire that pretty much destroyed the Notre-Dame 5 years ago. There are some arguments for the cause but most agree faulty electrical maintenance is the culprit. The roof was constructed of 850-year-old oak- ready to burn with the slightest provocation. The fire was so hot that everything not stone inside the building melted and even the restoration scaffolding outside warped and melted.

This means that visitors can only admire the outside of the stone walls and famous gargoyles that are still perched up high on this gothic cathedral. (36 euro value)

Perhaps in another 15 years, people will be able to get back inside, but for now, I could only marvel at my luck of coming on the very last day of a bread/baguette festival being held in front of the Notre-Dame. Yes, the baguette has been added to the UNESCO Cultural Heritage and Paris has an annual festival where different bakers compete to win the title of best baguette maker and sign a contract to provide bread daily to the president’s home for a year.

Big Bus

After an exciting day, I decided to stop for lunch of Croque Monsieur (gooey toasted ham and cheese sandwich) and then take the Hop-on Hop-Off bus to see some sights without using my tired legs.

Typically for a one-day pass, it is 45 Euro value and takes about two hours to go around the entire circuit without getting off. At many of the stops if I was ambitious there were other activities I could have done with my Paris pass. But I wasn’t ambitious so I took pictures without getting off.

While it passed several of the sites I had already seen it also went down the Champs-Elysees which is a huge shopping street to the Arc de Triomphe.