First night in Paris

We had a surprise today. After dinner we were given a tour of Paris in the bus. It was dark enough so that it was near impossible to take a decent picture from a moving vehicle. We did stop off at a telecommunications tower to get out and take pictures. It is quite pretty at night. And on the hour, it sparkles. I got stoked about the plan to come back tomorrow to go to the top. I was looking forward to climbing the stairs of another civic monument.
That plan is now shot to hell.
After we got back on the bus, the tour guide made an announcement. We were going up it now! At night when the lights of Paris are beautiful. At night when they don’t allow people to climb up the stairs.
Well worth it.
It’s a lot like a bank. You wait in line to go to the second level. There you wait in another line to get in the elevator to the top. Spectacular view! You can’t see distant landforms, but it truly is the city of lights.
After lingering at the top, I took the elevator back to the second floor. From there I could take the stairs down. You do get an interesting view from that perspective. I took a lot of pictures.
Then we continued the bus tour.
The next “stop” was the Arc de Triumph. Which was described to us as the craziest roundabout in the world. Then the William Tell overture was played in the stereo and the bus charged into the circle. We cut off several “lanes” of traffic as he headed for the inside. (That may have been how we are supposed to drive it…) A few circles and then out again.
We took a wrong turn on the way back to the hotel. So the bus did a poor U-turn. We sort of got stuck in it so our headlights beamed into a parked white van where some people were having sex. They waved back.
Apparently white vans with candles are the Parisian equivalent of Amsterdam’s red light district.