group's last day

but it didn't bother my plans any!

those suckers had two concerts, one in the morning and one in the evening. that means that i had the day for tourist-y junk, you know, like the louvre...

i didn't get to say goodbye to everyone as we (me and two other non-clankers, cathy and carol) were unexpectedly dropped off right at the louvre instead of having to hoof it from the church. anyhow, i was up late, journaling (in this blog, of course) the night before, so i made it down to breakfast in time to make a sandwich, scarf a thing of yogurt, and eat my sandwich on my way to the bus.

we get dropped off, then i go kick it with my boys, you know: michelangelo, vermeer, da vinci, raffaelo, rembrandt, canova, david (i saw some of his stuff at versailles the day before, too, exactly the same stuff, really)...oh, and there was some hellenistic sculpture too...anyhow, it was ass-kicking. no really, a little over-whelming, even. and i saw a mummy. a real, live mummy (it only walks around at night, after closing, so it was resting when i was visiting). but it was a really long day as well.

the two ladies and i almost closed the place, leaving just before 6:00, but that gave me some time to shave my noggin - a duty i neglected in the morning because of staying up so late the night before.

supper is just across the plaza at a halfway decent restaurant. we gave norbert and gerard their thank you card (and a decent tip as well, they both kicked ass). after supper, 12 of us went to, you guessed it, the eiffel tower. it was just about 9:00, which, in my estimation, would be enough time to go all the way to the top.

this is our group: carol (kelli's mom's aide from her work, not the lady i spent the day with at the louvre), roy (kelli's step'dad), saskia (the young girl, remember?), bob (her dad, keep up), terry (his wife, her step-mom, you didn't know that yet), liz (met her yesterday), stuart (you know him from his birthday), erika (if you don't know her by now, you're screwed), kelli (same with her), steve and sue (the couple i had drinks with in brugge), and me. they want me to lead this motley crew over the seine to the metro stop there then to the tower. whew. it's a lot of responsibility...

but i succeeded! admirably so, in my estimation. not only did we get there, but we got in the shortest line, and made it up to the very top of the eiffel tower! i did have to endure the same questions by the two same people the entire time...feel my pain:

"how much does it cost to go to the top?"
"12€."
"can you climb the stairs up there?"
"no, you can take the stairs to level two, but then have to take an elevator up to level three."
"can you take an elevator all the way up to the top?"
"well, yes, but, you really have to take two, one to the second level, then wait in line for the next elevator, which will take you to level three."
"you have to take two elevators to get to the top?"
"yes, or climb the stairs to the second level but there is no stair access to the third level."
"oh, you can't take the stairs to the third level?"
"no, there's an elevator to go there."
"you can take an elevator all the way to the top, then?"
"yes."
"so we don't have to get off the elevator, we can just take it all the way?"
"no, you have to get off the elevator at the second level, then wait in line for the elevator to the summit."
"there's two elevators?"


this goes on for the duration of the line at the bottom of the eiffel tower. by the end of it, i hate myself and am contemplating throwing myself off the top of the frickin' tower once i get there. this is literally torture. excruciating pain. i can feel my eyes glazing over and a look overcoming my face that is weary of this retarded question/answer session with two people. as soon as i answer one of them, the other asks a very similar question. they have this look on their faces like they just don't understand. i have this look on my face that my patience is tiring and i'm ready to kill someone. grr.

but, we make it through the first line. our group gets split up, but we immediately get in line. the sunset, at just after 10:00 pm, is amazing from the eiffel tower. the line moves fairly rapidly, but is still more than :30. we start cutting up and joking in the line. you can tell that we've been traveling for awhile and the travels, for some of us, are coming to a close. if everyone was this comfortable for the duration of the trip, the trip would've been way better. instead, there were nerves and unsuredness (is that a word? assuredly it is now! eh, maybe i should've used "uncertainty." screw it, unsuredness it is!) and uncomfortable moments, but it all came together at the very end.

our group reconnects with a couple of people joining us further up the line. we all cram into an elevator and go to the tippity top of the eiffel tower. now, just a night prior, the four honeys with whom i was flirting told me that the top of the eiffel tower was not worth the trip. that they have a grate blocking your view and that it gets in the way of your pictures. that the view is just as amazing from the second level. pish posh! those girls, although amazingly cute, know nothing about city views! the top is far different than the second level. the view is so beautiful!

i stake out a spot because, in :2o, the eiffel tower is about to become all sssparkly. i want to know what it's like to have it all sssparkly when you're on the tower, so i wait. there is a bit of a chill, well, for those of us that don't enjoy the feeling of fresh, cool air (read: i wasn't cold, i enjoyed being up there). steve and sue take off because her feet were hurting (oh, and the group was leaving at the ass-crack of dawn in the morning), and roy bailed with them (hehe, i was talking to him, and he said, "yeah, i've seen plenty of places off the top of high towers, like the seattle space neele, and..." whatever else - but it wasn't the eiffel tower in paris!!!). the other troopers hung out.

there is a grate separating you from the rest of the world, but the squares are fairly sizeable. in fact, saskia says, "hey, look! i can put my head through it!" that set off a series of picture taking - and a number of people sticking their heads through the grate...well, everyone but me. yeah. even with no hair, my huge melon couldn't squeeze in there. we had a great time, though, and i think the event was a good exclamation point on the last eight days of traveling with these weirdos (which i mean in a very loving way).

after the tower sssparkles for a little while, we head down. by the way, being on the tower when it sssparkles is pretty anti-climactic...the view is better when you view it either from the base or afar. for some reason, no one else wants to take the stairs down after we get to the second level (you know, because you can't take the elevator from the very top to the bottom, there's a second elevator that you have to take - no, really, it's true). we agreed to meet in the middle, and off i go...

there are almost 700 steps from bottom to the second level. that's more than two towers of pisa! but, going downstairs is way quicker (and easier) than going upstairs. unbeknownst to me at the time, they were timing me to see how long it took to get downstairs. they took :10 to get to the bottom, between waiting for the elevators and the actual ride down. by the time i got down, i thought they had already left, because i didn't see anyone...a few minutes later, here the come, spilling out of the exit. "oh, man, i should've gone down the stairway!" "i knew i should've gone down the steps!" blah, blah, blah - you had your chance!

unlike the first time i went to the eiffel tower, the metro was still running. we got back, made the trek over the river, and said our goodbyes. then, while i was tucked away in my bed, sawing logs (actually i was blogging, but, eh), they were packing their bags...