Waking up in Paris and walking down the road to a cafe to be confronted with freshly made croissants and coffee is something that I can certainly deal with. The local one near the hotel has a set menu for breakfast including the above with freshly squeezed orange juice and baguettes. Hard life.
We got to the Eiffel Tower about 8:30 and lined up; yes there was a line already. We went through the obligatory security check and then met our guide by the south leg of the Tower, lining up for a second security check. Matty texted me asking me where I was and when I told him I was in line he stated that he thought I had booked a ‘skip the line ticket’. I replied that I was IN the ‘skip the line line!’ The line of people lining up outside the first fence and security check had already increased to well over 300. Our guide, David, introduced himself and reminded us that we had signed up for the 704 step climb, and soon after 9:45 we started. The climb itself is broken up into the first 2 stages of the Tower, and were not too difficult to complete. When we arrived at the first level David gave us a brief history about Eiffel, his tower and the other work that he had done. We started for the second level and after a few more minutes had completed the 704 step climb and got to enjoy the view of Paris. David went through the history of the major landmarks that we could see and was certainly a font of knowledge. He was kind enough to point out where our Metropolitan train station was to get us to the Catacombs, and we even met up with him at the train station as he was heading off in the other direction. As we left the Eiffel Tower the line for the first security check continued for the remainder of the block, and we figured that the wait would now be at least 2 hours, and that only gets you past the first of two security checks.
The trip to the Catacombs was easy, and when we emerged we saw the queue to enter snake its way around the corner. As we had some spare time we grabbed a drink and something to eat from a local cafe and Ben was served a massive slice of apple pie complete with cream and ice cream. Fran and Charlie met us here and just a little before 1pm we walked over to where our guide was waiting for us. Once we had all of our names ticked off one of the security guards lifted a gate and let us all in, in front of the line of people waiting which continued to stretch around the corner. The Catacombs is split into 2 parts; the limestone quarry and the ossuary. We went through the quarry section first, which had been enlarged from its original 5”5’ height to now accomodate those of us slightly taller. The quarry was used to mine limestone from underneath Paris to use for a large number of palaces, cathedrals and houses. While travelling through the tunnels, our guide, Igor (yes, really) pointed out the various airshafts and safety measures which had also been constructed. The Paris Catacombs run for about 300km under Paris, so naturally we didn’t see too much of them. The ossuary is where the bones of the dead of Paris were reinterred, as during the 1700s a lot of cemeteries were overcrowded and the corpses were piling up and causing disease. As such, the crown organised for the area of the catacombs to be consecrated, and the graves dug up and the bones moved. The effect is quite moving and disturbing, as the front edifice that you see is made up of skulls and femurs. All of the other bones and pieces are dumped behind and out of site. However, recently the tours have had people steal skulls, teeth and bones from the Catacombs, and as such, all of the skulls have been cemented in, backwards. There was even one skull with a lipstick kiss on its forehead.
From here we walked around Paris, eventually ending back at the Camps Élysées. We caught the Metropolitan out to Montmartre for our evening food tour.
This one was simply amazing. We met our guide outside of the station and the first thing that she does after meeting all of us is hand us a madeleine. From here she walked us through the area, stopping at the best (and by best I mean that the venue had won numerous food awards) bakery, cheese shop, charcuterie and finally chocolate shop, allowing us to taste along the way. She described how to spot the better shops and the best food in each and we were all happy after eating goats cheese, smoked pork belly, salami, macarons and chocolate. However ...
From here she led us to a small building and unlocked it, allowing us to go downstairs and here she opened her Aladdin’s Cave. From the bag she had a different goats cheese, a cows cheese with black truffle, a hard cheese and then a blue. All served with glasses of a light white wine and fresh multigrain baguettes. Oh, that was the first course. We then switched to a Pinot Noir to have with our pate. The first one was made from pigs leg, pigs liver and herbs, the second was just pigs liver and some lemon juice and then we swapped to a merlot for our third pate, one made duck meat and goose fat. Oh, and some very nice salami as well. If this wasn’t enough, we finished the course with an eclair. And, as we were informed, an eclair is supposed to have the same filling as what is on top, in this case a chocolate mousse in the middle and chocolate icing. All this served in the cellar of a house which has a hidden exit into the Paris Catacombs and was used by the resistance in WWII. Needless to say, it was an awesome tour.