With our fill of photo ops outside we walked around to the entrance. Before connecting the dots and realizing what was happening we knew something was amiss. We were able to walk right up to the entrance - this should've been a dead give away. It turns out that during our half day in Paris the Louvre was closed!!! Sigh. It took a couple minutes to sink in because I know that in all the reading I did beforehand I didn't run across this very important detail! So with this in mind we vowed to return to Paris, someday, to see the Louvre. Although thoroughly disappointed we were determined to enjoy the rest of the day and decided to set off towards the Eiffel Tower that we could see from the Louvre courtyard.
Now I must admit that for some reason, before we embarked on this trip, I had a crazy idea that in all of these locales it would be a challenge to find my way to the landmarks, museums and attractions that I wanted to see. I can tell you that, at least on this trip, nothing could've been further from the truth. In an effort to be organized I had spent time reading about each city we would visit and made a list of things I wanted to seek out. I guess I did this to make the trip seem less daunting (that didn't work at all) and to make sure that I didn't miss or forget anything. For example, when we arrived in Leuven we walked past several sights on my list before we arrived at our hotel to check-in. This kind of thing happened throughout this trip but I never ceased to be amazed and delighted by it. :) So all that to say when this happened yet again in Paris when we easily spied the Eiffel Tower I had to smile.
We set off and walked through numerous gardens, dotted with statues and fountains, were people were walking their dogs, sitting down to picnic lunches and working away on canvases propped up on portable easels.
It was supposed to be a 45 minute walk and halfway there we came upon a group of rickshaws, motorized or not depending on your preference.
I suggested we take one the rest of the way to the Eiffel Tower because it seemed like a crazy, impromptu thing to do. Why not, right? So we chatted up one of the drivers and before we knew it we were ushered into the backseat of one of the motorized variety and then we were off! Immediately thrust into Paris traffic in a rickety rickshaw we noticed that the driver was unfazed by the madness as we marveled, and occasionally cringed, at the number and speed of the cars that swirled around us. At a red light we had our photo taken by another tourist wanting to document this crazy aspect of Paris - I think it's hilarious that we'll be on someone's random 'Paris' scrapbook page. :) We arrived in one piece and before we stepped out of the rickshaw we were already staring up, mouths agape, at the Eiffel Tower.
It was nothing short of incredible and we spent quite a bit of time just walking around it and taking photos. Sadly, the lines to go up the elevators to the varying levels were impossibly long. We contemplated going up the first level via the stairs but even that line was ridiculous. In the end we didn't go up but we didn't care - it was amazing to look at and I'll tell you now that it was my favorite monument of the trip!
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