Paris, Part 3

After our insane museum schedule, we decided to chill out. We aimed to go up the Eiffel the first thing in the morning (try to get there before it opened to beat the insane crowd). The tower was well worth the wait, and coming before it opened made the entire visit from start to finish last 2 hours. On the first deck they made an elaborate ice bar and you could put snowshoes on to walk the outer ring. It was not worth it since most of the snow they made had melted. We walked down from the second to the first level. We were lucky to get a clear day.

We hit the open markets of Rue Cler after the tower to buy some awesome breakfast. We even got some cheese at a fromagerie. After we ate the cheese, we left it in our hotel room. That was a mistake when we returned hours later. Our room smelled like the Fromagerie! We visited Les Invalides where the war museum and Napoleon's tomb are located. Man did Napoleon have Napoleon syndrome! It made Grant's tomb look spartan. The war museum was really great, and they had a amazing exhibit on WWI and WWII. I need to learn more about the wars.

We jumped on the subway to meet up with my friend, Mike. He is really my brother's really good friend, but we used to hang out when I lived in Ann Arbor. He lives right outside of Paris in Vincennes. We toured Chateau de Vincennes which is cool castle dating back from the 12th century. It was closed when we got there, but Mike sweet talked our way in (ticket sales were done, but they were still open for a half hour). We then joined his family for dinner. It was fun to meet his wife, try local foods, and meet his kids. His little ones speak English to him and French to their mom. We kicked ourselves out and made it back to the city.

http://en.chateau-vincennes.fr/

Now see if you can find what belongs to Napoleon in this group of pictures!