Erin Explores: I WILL FINISH THIS

Details are getting fuzzy but I'm on winter break and want to document them while I have them!

We woke up fairly early. I want to say it was around 9:00 am and headed to the catacombs. We arrived at exactly 9:45 and they were scheduled to open at 10:00. At the time we arrived the line was stretched around the entire perimeter of the church. With no advance ticket purchase, we ended up waiting about 2 hours. It was a long wait and it felt like we barely moved. I didn't care. I was in Paris. I made a few runs to the Monoprix on the corner to get us drinks and snacks. I noted on the walk there was a beggar with dark hair and dark skin holding a 3 year old blonde baby who was sleeping. It was somewhat alarming as growing up my parents told us gypsy's steal children. I hope this doesn't offend anyone. Just an observation. We got to the front, purchased our tickets, and headed in.

We were presently surprised to find that they only let about 8 people in at a time. We had a lot of space and time to ourselves. It certainly wasn't an overrun, people in our way, Disney-type experience. I prefer the long line since it made the experience pretty enjoyable. We spent about an hour and a half in the catacombs. Make sure you try to use the restroom before you enter. We saw one girl half way though the windy path that was sprinting to find a bathroom. I still wonder if she made it because she has a lonnnnggg climb and walk to a bathroom.

We climbed out and found ourselves near the entrance by a few blocks. We stopped in at the pharmacist as Billy needed some muscle cream and then decided to grab some lunch. My husband is from Indiana so of course we had to eat there. We enjoyed sitting outside, sipping wine, and eating somewhat familiar food.

We then walked back, strolling through the Luxembourg Gardens and vowing to return. It was so beautiful!

We returned to our hotel and rested for a bit. I could have stared out of our windows for hours, I just loved them. Instead we headed out to see the Eiffel. My first time! We took the metro and I purposefully kept my head down the entire way so the first time I saw it would be the best possible way. I know, ridiculous. We got off at a residential stop and walked a few blocks until we saw it.

Of course I fell in love. I drug Billy down to the field. Passed all of the hawkers selling selfie sticks and cheap Eiffel Tower trinkets. There was an important soccer game happening so they had created a party area with a large jumbo-tron for fans to watch. We stopped briefly here but continued to find a spot on the lawn. Seeing everyone snacking and drinking wine, we decided we wanted to do that too. We walked to the MonoPrix and purchased wine, sushi, and cheese. Walking back we found a spot to sit and relax. We didn't have a blanket or bottle opener. The blanket we could survive without but the bottle opener we NEEDED. Thus, me walking around asking everyone in English is they had a wine opener. One was offered... I didn't know how to work it. So embarrassing.

The time was now about 6 and the sun would be setting at 8:00. I wanted to see the sunset so I convinced Billy to wait it out. He complied and we spend two hours sitting on the lawn. The sun went down, it was beautiful and the environment was buzzy. Once it was dark, we walked over to the Trocadero. We people watched and strolled over there before deciding we should stay to see the tower sparkle. We waited and waited. It lit up but didn't sparkle until 11:00. Worth the wait! It was magical. Everyone "oohhh"ed the second it began to sparkle and started clapping. I'm so glad we didn't miss it and it's still one of my favorite memories of Paris.