My Cuppa Irish Tea: Paris - Eiffel Tower, Seine River Cruise, Carousel, and Red Beer

Everyone knows that the Eiffel Tower is one of the most recognized buildings in the world. The name comes from its designer, Gustave Eiffel. It was originally just supposed to be a temporary exhibit from 1899, marking the 100 year anniversary of the Revolution. The tower proved to be an excellent platform for communications and it basically became a radio tower. It was the tallest building in the world until the Empire State Building was built in 1931.

The children were in awe of the Eiffel Tower. They tried to keep telling us that it was not that big as we were walking towards it, but then once we stood under it they realized it was BIG! We were hoping to climb or take the elevator up but the lines were so long. I believe there was even a 2-3 hour wait just to walk up the tower. It was a weekend and its mid-term break week in Europe so I'm sure that is why it was extra crowded. The kids were soooo disappointed but we said we could try again the next day and get in line early.

We got stuck under the tower for about 20 minutes during a downpour. Typical Europe where you have sunny skies and then 10 minutes later its raining and then the sun comes out again.

We walked to the Seine River and decided to do the river cruise. I thought the children would enjoy that and we could get a little rest from walking all day long.

K was happy because we found a stand with hot dogs!

Listening to the audio guide in English!

Pont Alexandre III Bridge from 1900

View of Notre Dame from the Seine River

The Louvre view from the Seine River

Pont Neuf Bridge - the oldest bridge in Paris from 1607

Not only is Paris the city of light it is also the city of carousels. When we finished the cruise we walked over towards a carousel near the Eiffel Tower. It was a double decker carousel. Pretty cool!
They have carousels located all over the city at proper strategic locations. Most of them were double decker carousels. Joe and the kids are all riding on the upper level.

The Eiffel Tower looks pretty at night!

Every hour the Eiffel Tower sparkles for about 5 minutes and this was this highlight of L's day. She thought this was the best EVER! Enjoy the video...

By this time it was getting pretty dark and it was only 7pm. We walked to the Arc de Triomphe which is another famous monument in Paris. This monument was built to honor those who fought and died for France. It is located right next to the Avenue des Champs - Élysées.

Arc de Triomphe

Now we are a far walk back to our apartment and the children were exhausted. We decided to hop on the metro to get back to our place.

We stopped a little café to get a quick bite to eat and I was eager to try a beer with a shot of strawberry syrup. It sounds horrible but it was so good. The evening before we saw a man order one and I asked the waiter what it was. Its not everyday you see a "red" colored beer. It must be a French thing because we saw many "red" beers that day.