The colours of Florence

We all had a terrible night's sleep last night. Helen mainly because the voices in her head (reminding her of everything she must do to ensure she and her luggage gets home safely) would not shut up - bit much to ask really given that she herself is a Queen of the Gift of the Gab! Michael and I didn't sleep because our bed was the worst we have had on this trip. It kind of had two spoon shaped depressions with busted springs and a hard ridge between. Between that and keeping an eye on the alarm clock to make sure that we did not sleep in, there was not much sleep at all in the room.

Breakfast however was great - if, as Hels remarked, you felt like eating! Think she is a little excited to be going home - she has missed Greg and the girls no matter how much of a brave face she put on. Don't get me wrong, I think she has loved the holiday, but without those you love to share it with, it's a poor second!

We could have had a range of cereals including Coco Pops which you don't see very often here, cold meats and cheeses, rolls, croissants and cakes. Fresh fruit and juices. And completed with very nice coffee. We finish and return to our room to finalise our packing.

On the road in good time. We leave the Hotel Stella Mary with its lovely big room just after 9 am to walk around to the garage where the car is parked about 3 blocks away. With Helen's luggage now totalling 2 suitcases, we all haul one each over the cobbled streets (<groan> how I hate cobbled streets). The fellow we saw here last night is not working and the man in charge speaks no English. He seems to take his time and I am about to tell him to hurry (aerporto and point to my watch!) when he finally comes down the drive with our car. I wonder how they feel about the right hand drive?

Kate does not have the Florence Airport in her databank by name - how odd. But we checked with the hotel staff last night and they tell us it is Aeroporto Amerigo Vespucci. Kate however, and the Airports of the World have it listed as Peretola Airport! Go figure. All the road signs are for Vespussi too. Go figure again! Anyway, the hotel staff marked our map with the location so Helen gave me a street nearby as a starting point. We are all a little concerned however when she directs us away from what I think is the logical direction (and the road signed direction). Never fear however, Kate is on the ball. I had asked her for the fastest route and she obviously knows that the motorway is very busy on a weekday morning. We link back with the motorway about 2 kms from the Airport and despite the hotel staff telling us to allow an hour, it has taken less than half an hour! Go Kate!!

So we are there in plenty of time to get Helen all sorted. Initially we make our way upstairs to the Al Italia desk only for her to be told she is in the wrong place. I am sure that her heart is in her mouth, when the airline clerk continues that she needs to check in at the Air France desk downstairs - whew. They however don't open for another half hour. Oh well, nothing to it, we just have to wait, frustratingly.

Finally Hels is all booked through and sans much of her luggage. She has opted to take all her gifts with her in a new small suitcase. She is pretty sick of wearing the same clothes over and over during the past five weeks, and I get the feeling that if they go missing, it wouldn't be the end of the world - unlike what would happen if the pressies she has bought the girls go astray! That plus her neck pillow, a jacket and a couple of books will keep her hands full. She has to run a marathon to get home: Florence to Paris, Paris to Copenhagen, Copenhagen to Bangkok, Bangkok to Sydney, Sydney to Brisbane where Greg and the girls will give her a very warm welcome on Thursday morning. Whew. Methinks she will be very tired and sick of planes well before she gets to Brissy.

One last shared coffee, hugs and kisses and a few tears and we are waving her off through to the gates. Michael and I go back to the car. It seems so empty all of a sudden.

We turn back for Florence, having decided to stay another 2 nights. We are changing hotels though and will be a little further out. But first there are two bus tickets that we need to finish using. We take the car up to the Piazzale di Michelangelo as we noticed plenty of parking when we were here yesterday. It was created as part of major restructuring of the city walls, the terrace is typically 19th century. Giuseppe Poggi also designed a monument base dedicated to Michelangelo. The monument itself was to be composed of copies of Michelangelo's works, including a bronze copy of the famous statue of David and the Medici chapel sculptures from San Lorenzo. Renowned for its panoramic views of Florence and the Arno valley, this terrace is popular spot with locals and tourists. And today is no different - there are at least three Japanese weddings taking place here today - complete with over the top photographic choreography! Who can blame them? The views are simply stupendous.

We get a few more photos ourselves while we wait for the bus to arrive. We also buy a small watercolour from an artist who is busily sketching away. She shows us a huge array of her works - all scenes of Florence skylines, or of Tuscan landscapes. She sure knows what appeals. They are simple and neat and she has a great flair for capturing the perspective accurately. I wanted a trio of miniatures with examples of both, but she groups them as one or the other. Eventually I settle on one that shows the city skyline - it is so memorable and ever so stunning. I can see why it is one of Italy's top ten tourist drawcards up here looking down on all the domes. It is stunning to see the shades of red from up here, high above the city with the quieter yellows and whites beneath these perky caps.

Our first thought was to go and have a look at the Pont Vecchio first, but given that it is on the inner city bus tour, we decide to first go and have a look at the Duomo as that stop is before the Pont. And there went the plans. We spend the rest of the afternoon at the Duomo where Michael climbs firstly the Bell Tower's 414 steps and then realises that you can also climb the dome of the Cathedral - 308 to the first tier and a further 155 to the top of the dome (which the ticket seller didn't tell him!) So his calf muscles are shagged tonight!

This Cathedral is the 4th largest in the world. The space is huge and open and the seating that is used during services has been removed. leaving only some pews around the outer walls. Why?, do I hear you ask? Well, the floors in this church are the most amazing we have seen yet. Beautiful inlaid and mosaic marble floors, they lie testament to the remarkable skills of the local stoneworkers. And while they are fascinating, there is more. The whole of the exterior of this cathedral is a mosaic of candy cane coloured marble giving this building it's famous facade.

Once we have finally had our fill of the Cathedral, we say goodbye to Kath and Frank from New Jersey in the US, to whom we had been chatting. They are off to Rome for three days tomorrow - have a great time guys! We have spent so long in the Duomo that our tickets are will expire in the next half hour meaning that we dont have time to go around to Ponte Vecchio tonight. So we walk across the inner city to the closest stop where we can pick up the bus on the other route to return to the car up on the Piazzale di Michelangelo.

We are changing hotels and so set out for the Vivahotel Fleming Novoli on the other side of the city from where we were previously. Funnily enough it is really close to the airport! Again we are caught in a web of one way streets, at one time turning right where we should not, only to have a local gesticulate madly as he is driving towards us! As soon as he realises we are tourists - because I as the driver am on the other side of the car, he becomes more helpful straight away and points to the street we should use.

So we book in for an early night. The hotel advertises a limited restaurant both on the Booking.com website and in their in-room compendiums, so we are not impressed when the surly young girl at Reception tells us that the don't have one. Michael goes for a walk, only to return to say that there is no real options for dinner anywhere around here. So it is doner kebab takeaways. Not bad actually, just not what we expected! And then to bed.

A second chance for Milano

Breakfast here at the Hotel Tiffany Milano was very nice. They serve it until 10 am and we get down there about 9:45 am! Scrambled eggs, thin little sausages and speck cooked like bacon as well as the usual cereals, yoghurts, pastries etc - very nice. And really, no pressure to hurry from the staff which is nice.

Today we decided to go into Milano City by metro - finding the Metro Station was a feat in itself - the verbal directions of the receptionist were very casual, and where we are, and indeed the closest metro station (which is the furtherest one from the city on the line) are both off the tourist map. And we are only 13 kms from the centre of the City!

We finally find the parking station for Bisceglie Metro station and park the car. A few cars, but there are spots for some thousands of cars! This must be a really jumping place during the working week, and one I am not at all interested in experiencing (especially given the Italian driving - ugh.) Even on a Sunday, the trains run every 5 minutes or so. A train is due only minutes after we get down on the platform and it is an uneventful and fairly quick trip in to the Piazza Duomo. The metro trains area old but clean and the driver likes to slam the doors dramatically as soon as the last passenger has pulled their heel just past the door frame! BANG!

The Piazza del Duomo today is bright and hot and a mass of heaving humanity. There are so many people out. Lots of tourists but also lots of locals - it seems to be a popular meeting place for young people who move about in groups. Lots of families too.

The Duomo gleams in the bright sunlight. As we walk away from the metro entry we see that there are stairs to climb and then joy of joys we spy the sign telling us that there is a lift. I CAN GO UP TOO. You don't know how great that is because most of the time, I cannot go up - there is no way I could ever manage the number of steps involved with climbing up spires and towers. I gladly hand over €8 for the privilege of seeing Milan from on high. Helen and I climb up the 8 or so marble steps to the lift and find that we are travelling up alone - which is good because the people coming out had complained how hot it was.

We get to the top to be greeted by more stairs down then up then down. But Oh. My. God. the views were stupendous - not only out over the centre of Milan (ok, ok, no need to say it, I'm a rooftop junkie), but also inwards into the outer of the Cathedral. We are up with the flying buttresses, with the bosses and the finials and the grotesques and the gargoyles. Helen describes it as being on the inside of a sculptured alabaster vase with light reflecting off each intricately carved surface - both curved and angled. And the whole thing is made of pink marble - probably mined around Lake Maggiore.

The detail is mind blowing - there is as much detail in the small statues high up here near the heavens as there are on the main statues within the main body of the Cathedral. And the views through the arches to other parts of the church and to other buildings in the city are stunning.

Helen and Michael then climb the last 52 steps to the rooftop level. I knew I couldn't climb up there - the steps were marble, worn, and spiral. But the photos are gosh, give me another word for amazing or stupendous or breath-taking! Hels was a bit nervous at first of being on the roof, but this one is all marble - not like the copper we have found on most of them. High high up in the sky!

Back down on terra firma, we have lunch near the Plaza before we have a look at the inner workings of the Cathedral. Michael and Helen opt for pasta while I have the win of the day with a smoked salmon with butter and lemon panini. The controls to get in to the Cathedral are amazing - church security, local and national police give everyone the oncde over, checking bags etc before letting us in to have a look. One sign says no photos and we are slightly disgusted at the number of people who just ignore it and click away indiscriminately. Another sign near the back door says photos, no tripods! So we feel like cads, and then gladly join them! The stained glass windows are some of the finest and grandest we have seen on this trip and the mosaic floors need to be walked on to be believed - they are stunning. The Church is built in the Gothic style and has a quiet reverence and dignity about it. Truly beautiful.

Outside in the sunshine again, we split up. We know that there is a museum with some of Leonardo da Vinci's early drawings and models and Michael goes in search of them while Helen and I try to find some of those elusive shops that Milan is famous (?) for! He wins, we lose.

We go down through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a covered double arcade formed of two glass-vaulted arcades at right angles intersecting in an octagon. It connects the Piazza del Duomo to the Piazza della Scala. We marvel at some of the top end shops whose rents must be astronomical. This covered arcade would be oh so elegant if it were not for the McDonalds that holds ransom to one of the four prime positions facing into the mosaic laid centre court. Oh, and the filipino women selling cheap toys out of shopping bags hanging on their arms while constantly on the lookout for officials who will move them on and their african male counterparts who want to 'give' you little friendship bracelets!

Wandering right through to the back and find ourselves in a square with a stunning statue of Leonardo da Vinci in a garden that is surrounded by large and imposing government and banking buildings. We sit for a little while and soak up the atmosphere, watching the Milanese at play. There are some tourists here, but more locals and it is nice to see them go about the lives on a suny Sunday afternoon. Still haven't found the shops though! So up around the back of the Galleria and we come upon a department store - smick and smart. Of course, they are all the same everywhere in the world and so we enter through the perfumery. There are lots and lots of people here - this is where they go on the weekends obviously.

Standing in front of the escalators we see downstairs is much quieter than upstairs with the young people clothing, so down we go. As we are carried to the lower level which is all the homewares, we spy the loveliest coffee shop - all decked out in shades of purple - Helen's favourite colour. Wow, gotta try this one. And it was an excellent choice as the coffee was the best we have had in a while! I had a shaken coffee, shaken by one of the cutest young Italian men with the neatest little butt! Afterwards, we make our way slowly back to the Piazza where we are meeting Michael.

He arrives all flustered and sweaty. He finally found the Art Gallery after consulting the Tourist Information Centre. Its a bit of a walk and so he has rushed back. But he is oh so glad he went - saw lots of the originals of the line drawings of his fort and canals designs as well as the original letter written by him to the Duke of Borromeo seeking appointment - how special is that. No pics allowed though so you miss out!

In summary this is how we found the City overall:
Messy
Industrial
Loud
Aggressive
Noisy
Over-stated

but it does have some redeeming features:
Magnificent Cathedral
Interesting architecture
Luscious food
Animated and lively
Neo-classic in its own sort of way
Over the top

So its back on to the trains with the fast, thumping shut doors. This time there are quite a lot of people on the train and we stand for much of the trip.
Its nice to get back to the hotel and download the photos for a look. There are some stunning ones with some nice angles taken atop the cathedral.

We don't want to really fuss with dinner tonight so decide to just head down the road a few kms to a steakhouse. Wow, this place was jumping! Without a reservation we need to take a buzzer thingy and wait for our turn. About 15 minutes later we are shown to a table where the waitress in the fastest Italian is trying to help us decide. Turns out she is learning the ropes and the older (but not by much) waitress who helps her has a little English. Michael orders a T-Bone, Helen the ribs and I order lamb fillet. Accompanied by baked potatoes but not much else, they are just what the doctor ordered. These are some of the best meat we have had in a long long time! Like really really good and just what we are craving.

We leave Milan tomorrow - hopefully the car will be ready.

Paris - ring o ring the (roundabout) rosie

Things that make Hel laugh - sirens and burping irons that sound like growling lions! What a laugh huh! She was ironing her jeans when she came out with that little gem. Not a big brekky today - gosh, we were still full from the cheese last night - no, make that earlier this morning!

Planned for a big day today - over to the Arc de Triomphe travelling by metro and then down the Champs Elysee. Hels is not a fan of the underground rail system - whether it be the RER or the local metro. She finds it grubby and smelly and crowded - not good for someone who can get a little claustrophobic at times. All of a sudden I realise that she has never spent any significant time in anywhere with an undergound rail system - unlike Michael and I who commuted in Sydney for years and years. Now I am thinking that I should plan our trips around the bus network, but she insists she is OK - very brave of her (I am not being condescending).

You emerge from the subway onto the Champs Elysee facing the Arc de Triomphe - and what an awesome sight it is. Helen had no idea how big it was - I think I felt the same the first time I saw it. And the traffic that rushes around it put her hearth in her mouth just like it did mine! You hold your breath thinking there is going to be one huge pile-up, but there isn't. It is just so crazy and frenetic. There are a couple of German girls from near Stuttgart of all places trying to get a photo and I offer to take one for them. And they are more than happy to reciprocate. They are excited - they leave the for the US tomorrow and I can't resist giving them a little advice to make dealing with the entry requirements a little easier.

Last night the American couple we met had given us their tickets for one of the open bus tours - the tickets are valid for 2 days and they were leaving today. As luck would have it, the correct bus was sitting at the bus stop at the Arc. Now, Michael and I have used these buses in many cities - some are great, some are very ordinary. I wasn't sure if Helen would be happy to do a tour - it limits you to the main sights route - according to someone else. But no, she suggested that we use the tickets.

It was the best thing we could have done. With the limited time that we have in the City of Light, this was a great way to see all the major sights - and especially those that we knew we are not going to have time to visit seperately. And it gives you a bigger look - you are off the ground and can get a clearer impression of the siting and impressiveness of a place this way. She moved from awed silence, drinking in the atmosphere and the magic of this place and verbal excited chatting. I am so glad that I have her here in Paris with me. I really don't think that there is another person on this globe who sees so close to what I see (and then some I suspect).

When I was downloading the photos we took today (733 between us - her 440 of them!), we have unknowingly taken so many the same or similar in terms of the style, subject and perspective of a photo. Wow, thats my friend, mon ami!

You know there was so much to take in. Helen more than me was in visual overload and I am so glad that she has so many pics because she won't really be able to process them mentally until she is back at home in Australia and over her trip. Been there, happenend to me too. So, what did we see?

So, we left the Arc de Triompe and headed bravely across the intersection where there are up to five lanes of traffic, no lines and almost no rules. But as I said to Helen, the bus is bigger than the rest of the traffic, so we are pretty safe!

The route we follow is:
- down the Champs Elysee, into Winston Churchill Avenue to the Grand and Petit Palaces
- across the Seine to the back of the Trocadero then crawled slowly past so that we could all get a photo with the Eiffel Tower in the background
- around the front of the Trocadero and across the Pont d’Iéna to outside the Eiffel Tower where today there are thousands of people queueing for tickets
- through the Champ de Mars looking on one side back to the Eiffel Tower and on the other to the Ecole Militaire
- around to the Musée du Louvre where we are going tomorrow, admiring the space and use of architecture
- onto the Ilse de Cité to the Notré Dame
- down the Rue Lille to the Musée d'Orsay where the statues on the outside of the building are amazing
- around pass the stunning Opera House with all its gilded statues atop the corners that gleam in the sun
before we turn back onto the Champs Elysee for the journey back up to the Arc de Triomphe. It was quite a journey and the fact that we took so many photos is testament to the amazing sights that the City of Light provides.

By the time we got off the bus a couple of hours later we needed to make a comfort stop. We are passing McDonalds on the Champs Elysee and off Helen trots to join a pretty long looking queue. I didn't expect her back any time soon. After quite a while, she comes out all flustered - she had been stuck, locked in the toilets in Maccas! Hot ladies room, dark walled loos and my poor claustrophobic friend. Gosh, why did it have to happen to her. Anyway, we leave and get her some air outside and look for a nice open cafe to have a coffee. A little further down the Champs Elysee we find it.

We sit inside at the Cafe George V (little tip guys, terrace or pavement orders cost considerably more and I am sure the waiters knowingly encourage tourists to sit outside!) We even managed to order and repsond to our very obliging and engaging waiter in understandable French (wow, I am impressed with us!). We ordered Cafe au Lait and Crepes - mine with Grand Manier and Helen's with Creme Marron - both with Chantilly cream - yu-um! He very kindly offers to take a photo for us as soon as we have the camera out! But it paid off - he got a nice tip!

Cross the road to get a better photo of the Arc de Triomphe at the top of the road and find the banks are all on this side of the street - hurrah, we can replenish our dwindling cash! Then it is back across the road to go to the Virgin MegaStore so we can pre-buy our tickets for the Louvre tomorrow and so avoid the queues - we pay a tiny bit more, but well worth it. Continue down to get photos of the amazing gardens at Franklin Roosavelt Avenue - even though it is now winter and the blossoms are past their best, but the gardens are still stunning.

Then its on to the Metro to go back and have a look at Notre Dame and get there literally 5 minutes after they have closed. Helen had her first encounter with Gypsies around Paris today. Merv (the travel agent back in Maryborough) had warned her about the Africans selling souvenirs near the Eiffel Tower. But the Gypsies are another thing altogether. They are persistent and niggly - they invade your 'space' and here, the opening line is "Speak English?" so if you look dumb, don't make eye contact and just keep walking, the soon lose interest. I have been told by people in a number of cities as we have been travelling that the clever ones can bank up to €2,000 a week!

Afterwards we had a very ordinary dinner at Quasimodo Notre Dame. Guess that close to the Cathedral they serve a-la-tourist food - quick to cook, quick to serve. Get em in, get em fed, get em out!

So what stood out today? Gosh, what a stupid question - we are in Paris for gods sake! But the monuments and fountains are amazing as is the Paris skyline in general. And the Iron Lace on balconies gives the Parisian buildings a look of not only completedness, but also of eternal elegance. It does not matter that it differs from building to building. Because it all follows the same line, they look seamless. Absolutely fabulous!

We see the tunnel where Princess Diana met her death and remember where we were on that day. We hear the bells of the Cathedral chime out across the City.

The dinner cruise boats on the Seine are unbelievable. I mean there are boats running up and down all day long, but those at night have these incredibly strong lights that are directed to the shore. From the Eiffel Tower the other night they are so strong that when the are passing, you lose all your night vision. And when we are in the apartment, they light up both sides of the riverbank. I am so suprised that the powers that be have not legislated against them. It is the arrogance of the tourist industry and visual pollution at its very worst.

So a huge day and we get home knackered. Helen goes to bed early and will no doubt be up halfway during the night! Another big one tomorrow with the Louvre planned.

Iconic Paris - the ET

Tuesday 1 September 2009

It was a later start this morning. Although Helen would not admit to it, I could see that she needed sleep. We got up to a cool and wet morning. Very Parée! And yet the light is amazing - as Hels puts it beige on beige, oh no, make that champagne on champagne, but oh so elegant. Bum around just talking. I wash some clothes - the first washing I have done since leaving home (ah yes, thats right, Michael is in the Somme).

Skype is amazing tool - just imagine, if you close your eyes, you can really imagine that you are in the room with whoever you are talking with. Helen Skypes in to the family. I think that it will help Soph and Erin just to be able to see their mum each day. We work out that if we are online about 9 am then the girls and Greg are just arriving home from school - a good time to chat, before they get dinner.

OMG do you know what is exciting Helen? The sound of the police sirens! That is one of the dangers of travelling for a long time - you get used to the everyday and so no longer even hear them. But yes, they are different to home and at first they are exciting.

My sister Siobán is having a major operation today - Mum has flown to Brisbane where she has flown to from Port Moresby. I phone in because I have just found out that it is today (thanks Damien for letting me know) to catch Mum as she is waiting for the doctor - Siobán is prepped. So I'll catch up with them later tonight.

Its about 10:30 am and with no food in the unit, we head out to find some breakfast. We walk up the street passed Le Pont du Seine where we ate last night and keep walking in the direction of the Eiffel Tower, but find no other eateries in this direction, so we turn back. Next door to the restaurant is a brasserie/café and in we go and sit at two tables (cos we can, they are not busy) looking out across the street and to the rail bridge. Deux Café American, deux jus d'orange, deux croque monsieur. (Two american coffees, two orange juices and two ham and cheese toasted sandwiches). Ah, gay Parée! I thought that it was interesting that the waiter handed us English menus as soon as we sat - gosh, are we that obvious!

We sit, drinking in the atmosphere. Just sit. And look. And listen. And watch. We see not only the tourists as they push towards the tower, sometimes a little unsure, often a little nervous, but also the everyday around us. We see the local young guy handing out leaflets to passing motorists as they stop at the lights - and I amazed that most of them wind down the windows and take his leaflet - hah! us in Australia would tell them where to get off, or just ignore them. We see a young African (the city of full of them) flogging umbrellas to the unprepared getting off the metro - all with the Effiel Tower silhouette emblazed on it. We see a Parisian mother and daughter, cool, aloof and dressed rather eclectically but assured and looking beautiful not because they know that they are, but because they are just confident in who they are!

Oh my god. These croque monsieur are divine. The cheese has a magical crust and so creamy underneath. Yummo! There is a nice small salad on the side, but I am oh so over salads (cos you get them with every meal!) - just give me some nice v-e-g-e-t-a-b-l-e-s!

And we see two police on bikes pull up a delivery driver who is just about to pull away from his illegal parking spot outsidethe cafe. Ah, but that is not why they are pulling him up! They had ridden between the lanes of traffic and had smelt the joint he was smoking! The world around here just stopped and watched. The poor boy was mortified. He was frisk searched in full view of everyone, his jacket was emptied etc etc etc. Oh it was fun watching.

The rain is really set in. We head off to look for the local supermarket that I know is just down the street. And gee - there it is. Very IGA-ish as Helen described! But with grog!!! We buy staples - a Ficelle - a long thin loaf of bread, pain de choclat, and one with rhubarb (hello darling), a couple of different cheeses - reblochon and boursin, a bottle of rose and one of red, garlic olives, tarama and some fruit - bananas, green grapes and raspberries. Its too wet to go anywhere out in the open, so we opt to go back to the apartment.

My legs are killing me today - stairs yesterday I guess and hauling luggage! Neither of us has had enough sleep either. And so the best way to spend a wet and windy time - ha ha take to bed with a book. Well, maybe not even the book. We both slept despite the noise from the busy street below us. Actually, we slept 6 hours! So we obviously needed it! We woke after 6 pm really refreshed. And the afternoon light is just getting to that really beautiful type.

We set out to go and explore that iconic symbol that is more Parisian than Paris. The ET. The Eiffel Tower. We are staying just less than a kilometre from it. As we come passed the Australian Embassy we begin to see more and more of it towering over the trees. Its not long before I can point out to Helen the base of one of the piers.

At this time of the day, the views of the tower are amazing because the relief of the edges looks so sharp. And the moon is rising (I'm sure there is a song in that somewhere!) and visible between the arches with the backdrop of a Parisian skyscraper - nice! For a while Helen is almost struck dumb - yes! This symbol has meant something special to her for so long. And now, here she is. At it. Under it. In it.

After about half an hour just looking, we make our way over to buy tickets. Ha ha yeah, OK we make our way over to join the queue snaking its way through the grids that herd us like good little sheep - two by two, towards our goal. First we have to go through a security check and of course I set the beeper off as I walk through the detector. Back I go and the young man, proabable very bored with the repetitiveness of his long day, says "Ah madame, no smiling" with a twinkle in his eye. We exchange a few words and you can see that not enough people see these workers as other people rather than just a process. We decide that we will buy tickets to go ALLLL the way to the top (last time I was here we coud only go as far as the second level). Legs aches from shuffling a step or two at a time, but eventually we are at the lift. "Bonsoir madam" I say as we enter and again, we are rewarded with a smile and a "Bonsoir". Their days must be so monotonous!

We are airborne! Well, not quite, but we are moving upwards to the sky - packed like sardines into the lift. With an American couple that have latched on to us. Well, she did. Sheep like, he resignedly followed. She seems to want to stay with us, but thankfully, they do not have the luxury of time and so push on quite quickly once we are out.

Now, that first walk to the edge of the platform and the first look out over Paris is amazing. Helen vassilates between ahs and "Oh my gods" and total awestruck silence. Yep, no matter what you think of it, Paris has it. An absolute beauty as a space. And because the city is flat with a few minor hills, you can see for miles and miles. And in a surreal way, the major monuments (and there are heaps) rise out and stand in relief out of the all the other buildings that surrond them - it is truly amazing. There is no way I can adequately use words to describe it, you have to come and see what I mean for yourself!

We walk all around at this level gazing out through the cage and then go up one flight (blasted spiral stairs) to get a view without the cage, but set back about 4 metres. Photos, more photos, lots more photos. We both mourn the cameras lost - our good ones. But I truly wonder whether any camera we would have could ever be good enough to capture what we will forever carry in our hearts and our minds.

Finally, we get on to the next elevator and head for the top. Of course, after we join the queues and crawl along for about 20 minutes that is. The ride to the top is very different. Very fast, straight up and you watch the city fall away under your feet. and we get to the top and it is grossly overcrowded. You inch forward. There is no such thing as personal space up here. Everyone is in everyone's face and elbow ad back. We jostle to get the viewing spots we want, knowing that someone else is just beind you, wanting to have the same look, so you keep moving.

We see so much farther - right across the huge metropolis that is Paris, but we have lost the detail that is so obvious from the second level - the rooftops and the cars and the people like ants.
For the first ten minutes of each hour from sunset to 1 am, globes twinkle up and down the Eiffel Tower and there are two laser probes that chase each other across the horizon from the top. This means that for a while it positively sparkles and the energy that it throws out in terms of excitment is just amazing. So at midnight we are down at the foot of the tower looking to the heavens and taking photos of the spectacle along with a few others.

Once we had done this, we needed some sustenance. There is not much open at this time of the night so we cross the road on to the edge of the Pont d'Iéna, the bride that connects the Eiffel Tower with the Trocadero on the other side of the River Seine. Ah, here we buy exorbitantly priced hot chocolate with cream - but oh so delicious!

Its late. And we are tired. Exhilarated but tired. To end the night we decide to walk back along the right bank of the Seine - back to the Pont de Bir-Hakeim - the beautiful bridge that we can see from our apartment. Its one of those amazing pieces of architecture that is so symmetrical and beautiful for someone like me who just loves symmetry!

Back at the unit we are hungry (having had nothing to eat tonight!) We bring out the cheese and rosé and fruit and have a carpet picnic! Finally hit the bed well after 2 am and Helen at 3'ish.