Climbing the Tower

Over this past week, I've had the pleasure of spending some time with some students from my school who are passing through Paris on the university's Seminar in Europe program. Accompanying them was the director of study abroad, and it was great to have a chance to see her and spend a day in the city with some students from the group.

The big thing we did was to get up early on Saturday and go climb the Eiffel Tower. We decided to take the stairs up to the second level, then the elevator up to the top. It was a great time, with a fantastic view of the city, and even with a few bad knees and some fear of heights in the group, we all made it up to the top and back down safe and sound.

Christie, Bri, Olivia, and Luke on our way to the second level.

Heading up the stairs to the elevator platform.

The elevators, besides being a little cramped, were clean and quiet, and we even had some nice conversation with some Brits and other Americans. Plus the walls were all giant windows, which made for a cool experience.

Eiffel Tower- Going Up! from Michael Ullinger on Vimeo.

A video from inside the elevator on the last leg to the summit of the Eiffel Tower.

Luke wasn't as thrilled with the elevator ride as I was.

From the top, you could see the whole city and beyond. It was fun to see how many landmarks you could try and name, but some of them were almost too small to see! We found a group from Maine, and struck up a "We'll take one of you if you take one of us" deal for photos.

The whole group, proudly standing atop the tower.
Photo credit: Not me. I didn't ask her name, though...

Eiffel Tower- Going Down! from Michael Ullinger on Vimeo.

A video of the elevator shaft as we went from the summit back to the second floor.

After heading back down, we went to Chinatown to grab some lunch. We taught Luke to use chopsticks, which was quite the adventure, as we ate chicken, rice, noodles, and dumplings. After that, we headed over to Italie 2, a shopping center, to give everyone a chance to find some souvenirs and some down time. Afterwards, we headed to the Harley Davidson store so Bri could find a special souvenir for her dad, and then it was dinner time.

They were feeling a little homesick after spending the last few weeks touring Europe, so I took them to the best cure I know of here: Breakfast in America. It's a fantastic American-style diner, with burgers, fries, and milkshakes. Not to mention pancakes, maple syrup, bacon, "real" ketchup, and root beer, all of which are rare commodities on this continent. My friends and I go there whenever we're feeling a bit down, and it's a fantastic pick-me-up.

The Super Sunny Burger from BIA. One of my favorites. And yes, that's
a Dr. Pepper in the back, another rare commodity...

After excitedly tearing through our dinners, we headed back to the Eiffel tower to see the soft glow of the spotlights at night, and see if we could catch it twinkle. We stopped for ice cream on the way from the viewing platform and the tower, and even ran in to some other students from the group. After we had our fill of ice cream and twinkling lights, we went back to the hotel, said our goodbyes, and parted ways.

The day was a lot of fun, and I'm really glad to have seen people from school and catch up on some of the happenings. Christie is headed back to the states, and the students are on their way to London next, before they head back in a few weeks. I wish them safe travels and the best of luck, and I can't wait to see them all when we get back and swap some more stories.

These next few weeks are going to be filled with some travel of my own and even more visitors! I'm heading to Zermatt, Switzerland for a few days of skiing and hiking, so expect some beautiful landscapes in the near future. After that, I'll be hosting some students from my university studying in York, England, and acting as a tour guide for two of my co-workers who are visiting our office in London, and then taking some time off to see Paris. I'm also looking forward to using some of my spring break time to write some posts from my backlog, and finish up the ebook from the first half of my adventures. Let me know if there are any posts you want to see, and I'll make sure to put them on the list!