As first days go, we didn’t do much in Paris yesterday, but that’s mostly because we didn’t get to our apartment until 3p. In this case (as will, I think, be the case with the rest of our apartments), we didn’t actually meet up with the owner. Instead, she connected us to a friend of hers who let us in and gave us the keys. Because we opted to get the four-day Paris Museum Pass, we knew we didn’t want to start using it until today (Thursday) so we would get as much value out of it as possible, so we decided to just do a visit to the Eiffel Tower last night after we got a bit settled in the apartment.

Now, I’d like to think of myself as a somewhat savvy traveler. I decided we should just buy our Eiffel Tower tickets online, thus allowing us to skip the line. Unfortunately, the travel gods conspired against us – there were ZERO timeslots available that would allow both of us to go to the top of the tower during our entire stay here. Here comes a travel tip! If you’re going to do the Eiffel Tower, make sure you book your tickets/tour online at least a couple of weeks ahead of when you plan to actually be there. Learn from our mistake. 🙂 Despite that (and the 85°-90° heat!) we decided we would go wait in line. Thankfully, it wasn’t terribly long when we arrived, but we got in just behind a massive tour group of at least 30 people, so it felt like the line was running a bit slower because of that. Nevertheless, after about 90 minutes of waiting, we finally did get our tickets and get into the tower. I’ve been up to the top once before about five years ago, but Scott had never been, so it was cool experiencing that with him. The sun was shining and the sky was almost cloudless, so the views were amazing!

We had definitely earned a good meal after all that waiting in the sun, so after a quick trip home to look at dinner options, we decided to go to Café du Marche. Alas, it was FULL of people, so we opted to go to Café Roussillon instead. Scott said his Caesar salad was really good and I thoroughly enjoyed my pork chop, so I would definitely recommend this place if you’re looking for a good, well-priced meal in Paris.

Want to see our day in pictures? Check it out below:

Our arrival from Bruges at Gare du Nord.

The living/sleeping area of our apartment.

Looking from the living/sleeping area towards the kitchen and bathroom (bathroom is inside the door on the left).

Looking down Rue Cler, which is a block over from our apartment.

Our first full view of the Eiffel Tower. I love this shot!

Gorgeous view of the Champ de Mars from the summit of the tower.

Looking down on Paris from the summit. Check out the shadow of the tower on the left!

Me and Scott at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Because of the heat and the fact that our apartment doesn’t have air conditioning (we would normally never need it at this time of year), I didn’t sleep very well last night, so we’re getting a later start today. Still, we’re hoping to at least get to the Louvre and the d’Orsay today, so it should be a productive day. Today is also supposed to be the last day of this heat, which makes me a happy traveler.

‘Til next time!