Champagne and celebrations at the summit of the Eiffel Tower

Here is my 3rd and final instalment from our recent trip to Paris. Thank you all so much for the lovely comments you left for my other 2 posts. I really hope I have inspired you to consider at trip to this wonderful city. I spoke recently about Florence being in my top 5 world cities...well I would say next to London that Paris is in 2nd place. Even the Parisian's we met were charming, there is a lot written about them being dismissive to tourists but I can honestly say everyone even down to the bus drivers were totally charming and helpful as we struggled with our old school French.

Our anniversary fell on the Monday of our break. Originally this was the day we planned to visit Versailles but we found that the Palace is shut on a Monday. Our natural 2nd choice was the Eiffel tower and we were able to prebook tickets via the Internet before we left the UK.

Our hotel was not far from the Eiffel tower and we had already spotted it whilst on the platform waiting for the train to Versailles.It loomed in the distance like some kind of metal giant. It stands 324 metres (1063 feet) tall which is the size of an 81 storey building.
We took the train just a few stops and started to walk towards the tower.
The tower was built by Gustave Eiffel for an international exposition in 1889. It now stands between the the Parc du Champ de Mars and the Palais de Challiot.





As we approached we began to appreciate the sheer size of this amazing piece of engineering.

This is the base of the structure and I was only able to get 2 of the legs in this photo.

As we had arrived about an hour before our ascent time we decided to walk across the river and take some photos of the tower from there

At 12.30pm it was our turn to take the lift up to the 1st stage. Although you can book a ticket to the Summit (2nd stage) you cannot go straight there. You have to take 2 separate lifts.

This is the queue to the lift for the 1st stage, ours was in the East foot of the tower.
It was incredibly busy, despite the prebooked tickets. It rather reminded me of the snaking queues at Disney!

At long last it was own turn to get in and start the ascent to the 1st stage. Now I have quite a fear of heights but only when I am in open space eg mountains etc. Everywhere was nicely closed in and I felt fine.

We inched our way up through the leg and fairly quickly we emerged at the 1st level. We were astonished by the views from here but decided that we would go up to the 2nd level as my daughter had told us following her trip in January that the views from there are totally amazing.

We were not disappointed.......................................................

                                                WOW.................................what a view!

I love this photo as it shows the shadow of the Tower on the ground, such a long way down.

Also at the top of the tower there is a tiny champagne bar and as it was our Wedding Anniversary we decided to splash out and share a tiny glass of champagne...it was 10 euros a glass , yes I jest not!

As the wine waiter poured our glass I mentioned to him what we were celebrating and guess what.............................he got out another glass and gave that to us free. He also gave us the cork of the bottle as a souvenir.

Cheers! Here's to 30 years of marriage to my sweetheart. You will also notice that by this time the clouds had shifted and the sunlight was streaming in.....................this is one memory I will always be able to conjure up when I think of our Pearl Wedding Day.

We bought a couple of souvenirs from the shop

I use lots of tins to store my jewellery and card making stash and this Eiffel Tower one is a welcome addition. We also bought a fridge magnet just to remind us of our special day.







Then it was time to head back down to terra firma. In the evening we dined in a courtyard restaurant and it made a perfect end to a perfect day.





That brings to an end my posts from Paris. I hope you enjoyed them? I certainly really enjoyed sharing them with all of you. Remember you only have until 4pm tomorrow to enter my 1st bloggerversary giveaway. If you would like to win my earrings just add you name to the end of that post.

One last thing before I go, I am sure you are asking...so what did Jane get bought by her dear Hb for her Pearl anniversary....surely she got something pearl........well yes I did and I managed to get pearl and diamonds no less..........................what a very lucky girl I am.................

Tee hee...what do you think? I L*O*V*E them and I think they will also be perfect for wearing to THE wedding next July, we're counting down the days now.

I hope you are all enjoying the heat of the summer. We have had some welcome rain recently but also some very hot sunny days...bliss.

Bye for now,

Jane x