The Eiffel Tower!

Next on things to do in Paris was go to the Eiffel Tower. I had a tour guide for the weekend, my housemom's son, Vincent, who has lived in Paris for 29 years. He was awesome and we jetted around by Metro and mostly by foot to all the cool places that are off the beaten tourist path. It is incredible what you can experience in Paris, when you take a back alley that links two museums together instead of the main boulevard. I spent lots of time doing what I love, menu browsing. In France, it is law that all restaurants must post their menu outside the restaurant, cafe, patisserie, or brasseries. I even went into a couple of them and had some wonder plat du jour's (plate of the day). Of course, I had to go see the Eiffel tower....up close. You can see the top of it from almost everywhere in the city! My friend, Wax, had sent me with specific directions to a secret map that his brother, Andy, had left him 8 years ago. As I tried to explain to my guide, Vincent, why I needed to go to the NE corner of the SW pillar, then look under the NE side of the cement pillar under a wad of old chewing gum, he looked at me with a bit of confusion but I laughed as I followed every direction to the T. It seems that the French take pride in their monument and steam clean the pillars regularly, so the wad of gum and note had probably been washed away many years ago, but I spoofed a new one and took it to the Notre Dame for the next traveler in Paris to find. Good luck and email me for directions to the new hiding spot!