A day of travel (3 trains & a total of 7 hours in trazit) had us arriving in Paris just after 5:30pm. After our not so great experience at the train station in Milan we had brushed brushed up on our knowledge of the Paris Metro by watching a few "how to videos" so we felt fairly well prepared. We'd had two Metro to catch (as a station change was required), and we were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves with buying tickets and making a successful change. All we had left to do was make it out of the Metro by taking exit 5 - and do you think we could find it? After wandering the tunnels for at least 5 minutes and encountering at least 3 other tourists also struggling to find the exit, a nice local (who also had no idea) recommended we go back to the platform and see if there were any signs there. We then found down the other end of the platform (out of view when you exit the train) the sign we were looking for. We managed to naviage successfully from there by foot first to retrieve our key (from a separate location) and then onto the apartment. Fairly tired we arrived at number 16 and attempted to open the magnetic lock on the street door. No luck! How many ways can a magnetic keh be used we asked ourselves? - we tried everything we could think of to no avail - we were just about to give up and call the contact number when Sarah noticed the next door up the street also had number 16 written on it. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief when that door opened on first touch and settled into our apartment for the next 5 days.

The next morning we eased ourself gently into Paris and gained our bearings by taking an early hop on/off ferry down the Seine. Staying a 15 minute walk from the east end of the Seine we were fairly well placed for sight seeing. The ferry service we took was just a mode of transport down the river so there wasn't a commentary - just a brief comment at each stop made in both French and English. Some of the English was a little hard to follow as it was spoken with a strong accent at normal speed - we'd seen similar comments on some of the reviews for some of the more expensive cruises that offer a full commentary so pleased we didn't take that option.

The cruise was very leisurely (read slow), but a good way to get familiar with the landmarks. It was also a great way to get our first view of the eiffel tower and with only a handful people on board with us it was nice and quiet. We opted to stay on for all but the last 2 stops and got off on the opposite bank to where we got on. We walked across the bridge and back to our accomodation stopping for groceries on the way and rested up until late afternoon.

The children had decided that they wanted to see the eiffel tower at night, so we went online to organise tickets just ro find the basic tickets were "sold out". There were plenty of skip the line and tour guide options but they were 100 Euros more than the tickets we wanted. After doing a bit more online research we were relieved to find out that only small quantities of tickets are sold online, with the rest available for purchase on site. This makes sense in hind site, but with recommendations everywhere about buying in advance and online and this little fact not mentioned anywhere on the websites it is easy to be led to think that the more expensive tickets are the only options - it's also interesting to note that many of the third party websites don't sell the basic tickets at all - only the tour/priority access tickets, definitely something to be aware of when trying to make bookings outside peak season.

Reassured that we should be able to get tickets onsite we headed out late afternoon, intending to view the Champs-Elysee and Arc de Triomphe on the way. The Ferry stop turned out to be quite a long walk from the Arc, with some fairly busy streets in between. We had a brief disagreement about where the best place was to cross to get to the other side near one of the roundabouts (should have planned that better), but it did give us the chance to view some Paris traffic chaos.
The Arc itself was very impressive. We didn't go up to the top, but the ornate stone work and sheer size was impressive. We saw the eternal flame and the fresh flowers laid onsite.

Our next destination was the Eiffel Tower - a walk and a short rest had us arriving at the general location. There were hawkers on all the surrounding streets all selling the same stuff, we were pleased to see some relatively short queues at the entrance - it wasn't until we got closer about 10 minutes later that we realised these were just security bag checks to get into the site - not ticket queues!!

Once through the first security check, we made our way to the "non ticket holder" queue. A bit longer than the priority access, but moving at a reasonable speed the only slightly disappointing news was that they had stopped access to the very top of the tower for at least the next hour (some of us were secretely slightly pleased to hear that!). Another 2 security checks - once for the toilette area, and again just before going up and we were off. Access up via the stairs stops at 6:30pm so the lift was the only option.

The lift mechanism looked like it worked using an hydraulic counterweight system. It went up quite a bit faster than expected initially. It's fair to say I didn't enjoy the ride up very much, but the kids probably did!.

It had taken about an hour from our first arrival at security to the time we got up the tower - which sounds like a long time, but didn't really seem like it. Timing wise it was perfect with the sun just starting to set about 5 minutes after we got out of the elevator with beautiful colours, and then the sparkling lights (that are set off once an hour for 5 minutes) coming on for the first time 10 minutes later.

The structure itself is pretty incredible for something that was only ever intended to be temporary, and with clear skies and no smog we had some impressive views of Paris.
Time to head back, we were packed into the 56 person capacity lift with the doors closed, and there we stayed for several minutes, until we were advised that there would be a short delay, and then a few minutes later, told the lift had technical difficulties and we needed to get out and use the other lift. Somewhat pleased that the issue had occurred before the lift started its descent we went and joined the other queue.
About 10 minutes later we were advised that it would be about 25minutes before we would get down by lift, anf that our alternate option was to walk down the stairs which would take us around 15 minutes - the choice was ours. Darryl decided we would take the stairs so with Scott religiously counting each one we set off.

It wasn't too onerous, but it was a fair way down. We stopped for a rest at the next level down, and also made a video call to some family back home (sorry to those who got woken up a bit too early) It was probably more fun for us than them - but pretty cool to be able to do that.

A total of 723 steps later (by Scott's account) we reached the bottom. We navigated back through the hawkers and the throngs of people (the queues looked longer now) and headed off on the Metro home. Interestingly while we were on board a very crowded carriage (we let the first Train go as there was no room at all on that one) an announcement came over the loud speaker in French. I didn't pay much attention but a nice lady next to me having noticed we weren't french advised me that they'd said that some known pickpockets had been identified on the platform and had boarded the train so people were to be careful of their belongings. Interesting to note that they are obviously well recognised, and as we were taking plenty of precautions anyway we werent too concerned.

So a successful first day in Paris with a big tick on our number one item - which was the kids pick and pretty much our key reason for coming here!

Scott: I got to use the telescope for free because someone had already put money into it. The lift broke down and I counted 723 steps on the way down.