Of course we were going to go up the Eiffel Tower. There is no question that you have to visit this iconic landmark as a tourist. When you mention Paris, it is the first thing that comes to mind. From every other landmark, monument, and museum in Paris, you are always searching for the Eiffel Tower in the backdrop.
We arrived in Paris on Monday morning and after wandering around somewhat aimlessly throughout the left bank on Tuesday, we had some firmer plans for the remainder of the week based on the weather, our plans to buy a two-day museum pass, and the remainder of things we wanted to see. Because it was supposed to be a relatively nice day and less cloudy than the rest of the week, we decided Wednesday would be Eiffel Tower day. It also turned out to be a holiday for Parisiennes too – 11/11 is Armistice Day. Surprisingly the lines at the Tower were pretty short when we arrived around 10:30 am. We waited for maybe 15 minutes to buy tickets to take the elevator to the top!
You take one elevator to the second level and then wait in another line to take a second, central elevator to the top. The second level was pretty high, but even at this lower level, there were some pretty amazing views of the city.
I am not scared of heights. I don’t think twice about sitting on the edge of a cliff to take a break while hiking. My father was scared of heights and growing up, it was a pretty common to make fun of him for this. We went to the top of the tall building near Niagara Falls with the outside elevator and made fun of him for sticking close to the inside wall. We laughed and would tell him just how high we were when we drove over the Bourne Bridge to Cape Cod. But the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower even made my stomach drop a few times. It was very, very high. Cars looked tiny. People looked like ants.
But wow. Just wow. I AM ON TOP OF THE FREAKING EIFFEL TOWER! And I loved it. The views were amazing. There were things I wasn’t expecting about the tower, like a champagne bar, at the top. There were gift shops and a macaroon store. It was just as iconic as I was expecting.
From the Eiffel Tower, we found our way to the Metro and bought a 3 day Visite Paris pass for unlimited use of the Metro, RER, and bus until Friday. And we headed to Montparnasse to go to the Catacombs, stopping for a quick lunch. Well, there’s not really such thing as a quick meal in Paris, but we didn’t order dessert or coffee and were in and out of the restaurant within an hour, so it was quick by Paris standards.
The line for the Catacombs wrapped around the block and we had maybe a 45 minute to an hour wait to get in. Then we descended down, down, down the spiral staircase. Creepy. I bypassed the 15 x 15 foot museum at the base of the staircase and immediately entered the creepy underground paths. (Ok, I’m not a huge history buff, but I should have looked at the museum because I had lots of questions at the end of the tour. I could have at least quickly looked at the plaques at the beginning).
The underground tunnels curved and turned and went in different directions (though many were blocked off so tourists don’t get lost). In one area, there were a bunch of intricate carvings in the stone walls (possibly because this was being used as a prison at one point? Again, shouldn’t have bypassed the museum at the beginning). Then we came to a sign that said “Stop, here is the land of the dead.”
I can’t even describe how many bones there were. There were tunnels and tunnels and rooms and rooms of bones moved from many graveyards around Paris. Even more creepy was the fact the bones seemed to be stacked perfectly. Was this someone’s job? Worst job ever.
Overall, the catacombs was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It was so creepy and surreal. We went from the top of Paris at the Eiffel Tower to the deep, dark underground of the Catacombs.
What I didn’t expect was the spiral staircase to get out of the Catacombs. The stairs going down made sense, but holy hell, the stairs coming out killed me. But really, what was I expecting, an elevator? Of course not.
There was a tiny gift shop across the street from the Catacombs, featuring things like pirate stuff (because of the skulls, I guess?) and absinthe. My husband instantly regretted not buying absinthe, so that started a quest for him for the rest of the week. He was on the hunt for absinthe.
We took the metro to Tour Montparnasse, the only skyscraper messing up Paris’ old skyline. We got a snack and bought our two-day museum pass at the visitor’s center. Not super hungry, we stopped at a grocery store near us on the way home and bought a few snacky things for dinner and called it a night!
