The Eiffel Tower

Today we did a LOT of walking. We first got up and went to find breakfast.

We stopped by a park and took pictures of this statue...

on our way to this great furniture store... it's called Maisons du Monde and it really is awesome. We had heard about it because we were in a shop the other day and Noah was admiring the funky multicolored chandeliers. The nice sales lady said she would sell us anything in the store except those chandeliers... but she gave us the name of the store where they came from. She bought them a few years ago, so we were sure we wouldn't ACTUALLY find the chandeliers... but we went to the store anyhow. It was quite fun! I brought home a catalog and I'm sure I'll shop from there if I can convince them to ship to me in the U.S.

Anyhow... next on the list was the oldest flea market in Paris... all the way on the North side of Paris. So we hopped the metro and took a ride up to look at antiques. We had far more fun at the flea market from yesterday... it was more photogenic and ... funkier... but it was still interesting to go through and look at all the eccentric stuff that Parisians buy and sell.

After THAT we decided to head to the Eiffel Tower. We contemplated standing in line in the freezing cold to ride up to the 2nd level (the top was closed)... but opted to leave with just a few pictures from the ground instead.

 

We saw this awesome old hand crank carousel...

And also this strange bird that looks like a pigeon only it's 3 times as large... someone please identify!

After that we were freezing cold and decided to hit the Paris Aquarium to warm up and see the fishes. It was pretty cool... not as nice as the Georgia Aquarium, for sure, but it made a good place to get the feeling back in our fingers and toes before the journey back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we're meeting Marc and Sherris and that marks the beginning of the end for our stay here in Paris. I mean... it'll be GREAT to see them :) and we're looking forward to spending some time together, but it does mean that our trip is coming to a close.