Paris, Day 2

View from our apartment window

Another view from our apartment window

Our second morning in Paris dawned as hot and bright as the first.  We ate some breakfast and then set off for more sightseeing.  Our first stop was Cemetery Pere-Lachaise. 

Part of the cemetery's front wall

Pere-Lachaise is a huge cemetery with hundreds of statues, memorials, and mausoleums.  A lot of famous people are buried there, but A and I didn't have a map, so instead of looking for specific graves, we just wandered along the winding cobbled paths, enjoying the shade.

Despite, or maybe because of, being a cemetery, it was a very calm, quiet place.  There were a few maintenance workers here and there and maybe two other tourists, but other than that, we had the place to ourselves. 

Stained glass window through a mausoleum's iron gate

Some statues were stranger than others

After the cemetery, we rode the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe.  The moment we came up out of the Metro station, there was the Arc, stretching up to the sky. 

I've seen so many pictures of it from far away or from an aerial view that I didn't realize how huge it really was.  Standing three hundred yards away though and still being able to see the statues on its sides brought home just how huge it really is though.

We joined the throng of people walking toward the Arc. 

The Arc is situated in the center of a large roundabout in Place Charles-de-Gaulle.  The roundabout is ridiculously large and chaotic with about four lanes that are constantly full of vehicles, so thankfully someone had thought to build an underground tunnel that cuts under the roundabout and comes up next to the Arc. 

We came up out of the tunnel in the center of the roundabout and, being that close to the Arc, could no longer could see the entire thing in one glance.  We walked around it, taking in each side, and stopped in the center at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Then we entered the Arc and climbed the stairs to the top.

The stairs spiraled tightly around, going up and up and up seemingly endlessly.  We made it to the top though.  There was a floor inside the Arc containing some artifacts from the Arc and a gift shop.  From there, straight non-spiral stairs led up to the top and the outside.  We came out of the stairwell and suddenly were on top of the world.  A stiff breeze blew on our sweaty faces, and Paris unrolled itself like a map in all directions. 

And off in the distance stood the Eiffel Tower.  Our second sighting!

Amazingly, no matter how far we looked, we couldn't see the end of Paris.  It just kept going and going, stretching off into the heat-hazed distance.  

Eventually, we descended the Arc, took a few more pictures from the ground, and then went back through the tunnel to the other side of the roundabout.  Wanting a break from the tourist frenzy, we found our way to Luxembourg Gardens and relaxed there for a while.  It was an interesting garden in that most of it - or at least most of what we saw - was gravel walkway with rows of trees planted in straight lines.  Benches and chairs were scattered under the trees.  A fountain bordered by hedges and flowerbeds and palm trees burbled away in the center of a gravel square.  We definitely did not see all of the Gardens, or even most of them.  They were too big to walk around right then, so we found a seat in the shade, enjoyed the view, journaled, and read.  After a couple hours there, we made our way back to the apartment until nightfall.  Then we ventured out to see the Eiffel Tower at night.

We'd planned to see the Eiffel Tower of course but then we also heard that the Eiffel Tower lit up at night was not something to be missed.  We didn't pay to go to the top; instead, we found a seat on the lawn in front of the Tower and made ourselves comfortable.  Hundreds of other people had camped out on the lawn as well while vendors selling souvenir trinkets and bottles of water or wine ambled around. 

The voices of the other people on the lawn spoke in English, French, Italian, and a number of other languages I couldn't name.  We all were very different, but Paris and the Tower had attracted us all.  Gradually the sky darkened and the Tower lights started to turn on.

It was so gradual that I don't know when the first or last lights turned on, but then the sky darkened completely, and the Tower was a pillar of golden light.  It was beautiful.  I took too many pictures of course.

A and I sat, enjoying the spectacle, for about an hour.  Then we decided to head back to the apartment before it got any later (it was about eleven pm).  As we stood up to leave though, applause broke out on the lawn.  We looked up.  White lights were flashing and sparkling all over the tower like a little kid's light-up sneakers.  People clapped and cheered.  Their enthusiasm was surprising but also sweet.  Who couldn't like the Eiffel Tower?  We stayed a little longer before riding the Metro back to our apartment and going to bed tired but happy.

Side note: I apologize to anyone who has commented on a post and been waiting for a reply.  Some sort of computer glitch is happening, making it so I can't see blog comments.