Touring the Eiffel Tower - Or Not

This week is the beginning of the Easter weekend holiday and the number of people on the streets of Paris has grown substantially. Karen Is still feeling ill so this morning I went to try to visit the Eiffel Tower by myself. I decided to try to take the subway. My first mistake was not properly identifying where I actually entered the underworld. It took me a few minutes to get on the correct train. It only took me two stops to realize that I should be going the other way! I got off at the next stop, crossed over to the other side of the tracks and got going in the proper direction. After getting off at the correct stop, I found it to be very confusing to determine which subway to take next. I wandered around like a mole underground until I finally found the sign pointing to the proper destination. As I was waiting for the train to leave another tourist asked me if this was the train to Versailles. Do I look like a tour guide? I asked the lady I was sitting across from and she assured me that this was indeed the train to Versailles and to the tower. She was even kind enough to point out my own destination upon our arrival.

Climbing out into the sunshine, I was temporarily blinded by the brilliance of the day. Carried along by the throng of people that exited the metro with me, we soon came to the Eiffel Tower. Boy, that thing is tall! I knew that the line for tickets would be long but I was not expecting it to be as long as it was. I believe that if you stretched the line out in a straight line, it would probably stretch for a mile or more. Not being one to endure crowds of people I decided it was not worth the amount of time it would take to buy a ticket to the top. I found a nice hard bench to sit on and watched the crowd for a while. It was amusing to watch the street vendors trying to take advantage of the tourist. I believe that most of them are illegal immigrants from North Africa and they all seem to buy their junk from the same wholesaler. Whenever a policeman would pass, they would all scatter in every direction and for a few moments people were not pestered. If someone was foolish enough to stop and look at their wares there would be 4 or 5 other peddlers surrounding them in an instant. There were 3 young, naive, attractive looking American girls who ended up buying more souvenirs then they will ever be able to give away. They even ended up having their pictures taken with him. He nearly ended up getting punched by Ye Olde Man for the inappropriate placement of his hand. But they seemed to be enjoying themselves so who am I to spoil their fun?

I decided to walk back to the hotel along the Left Bank of the Seine. It turned out to be a rather long walk, but it was a beautiful day with lots of beautiful things to see. I must look like a Frenchman now with my newly acquired old duffers felt hat because several people stopped to ask me for directions to this place or that. After an hour and a half I entered The House of the Invalid's (our hotel room) and checked on how Karen and Aunt Lorraine we're doing. Karen is still feeling pretty sick but Aunt Lorraine is doing better.

After a short nap we went to see a fashion show at the Lafayette Galleria. Karen was not feeling good but went with us anyway. It was the first fashion show that I can ever remember viewing. Let's just say that the fashion industry is not something I would be good at. I guess that's just one less thing that I have to choose as a career. The walk back just about did in both the girls so we have spent this evening resting and recuperating. I hope I don't get sick and I hope that they get well fast.