Paul's Birthday Celebration

We were out late last night, having stopped at the Trocadero to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night on the way home from Normandy, and with three very busy days in a row (Montmarte, Segway Tour and Orsay Museum, and the Normandy beach Tour) we decided to take a well deserved rest day.  We relaxed in the morning, had a low key lunch at home and took Paul to see some of our favorite sites in the Left Bank area after lunch. We first took him to see the Rose Line and obelisk in St. Sulpice.  The church is actually massive, with a huge three story façade facing the square.  The first façade is supported with Doric columns, the second with Ionic and the third with Corinithian columns.  After Katie studied Greek architecture with Ms. Egan last year, none of us will ever forget how to identify each type of columns.  We stood in the square with our arms tight against our body, “Doric,” we shouted.  We then curled our arms to our shoulders, mimicking the curls on the top of Ionic columns. “Ionic,” we shouted.  Finally we waved our hands back and forth over our heads to match the fancy artwork on the Corinthinian columns, “Corinthinian,” we shouted in glee.  

We then showed Paul around the Jardin de Luxembourg, our favorite relaxation place. We found some chairs and spent the afternoon reading, moving our chairs back and forth from shade to sun as we desired.

After relaxing for several hours, we gave Paul a walking tour of the Left Bank, with the highlights beign the store where you get the great macaroon cookies, a really high end chocalatier and a patisserie where we bought some goodies to celebrate his birthday (a few days early).  We also showed him the restaurant where Ben Franklin used to dine and the streets lined with cafes and stores.  We picked up some Chicken Cordon Bleu at the Boucherie and made him a nice birthday dinner.  The raspberry, apple and lemon tarts were great substitutes for a birthday cake.

One event that Paul had been wanting to do was go to see the light show at the Eiffel Tower. Although we had stopped by the night before to see it lit up, we had just missed the light show and since it is only at the top of each hour, we didn’t want to hang out for the next show.  So around 8:15 we headed out to the Trocadero.  The Trocedero is a big plaza just across the Seine with excellent views of the tower. Most tourist photos where the Eiffel tower is behind them are taken here. The perspective is just right.  At night, the scene there is lively and interesting.  It gets dark late here, and when we arrived at 8:30 Katie was certain that it wouldn’t be dark enough by nine to see the lights. The sky was still quite light with just the hint of sunset. We found a seat on some marble stairs and watched the hubbub around the plaza.  Hundreds of tourists were taking their turns getting photos with the Eiffel tower, while North African vendors tried to sell them replicas of the tower.  The vendors all have the same few things, Eiffel tower replicas in various sizes from keychain size to about 10 inches tall in both gold and silver.  They thread the towers onto these giant rings that they carry around. The rings themselves are about 2 feet in diameter and loaded with Eiffel towers. It’s actually pretty cool looking. A few vendors have Eiffel towers in other colors, including pink, purple, blue, and turquoise.  Fewer still have replicas in color with the added bling of rhinestones.  But they all have glowing and light-up towers, particularly in the evening.   We watched the vendors barter with the tourists, and were approached an average of every four minutes by a different vendor.  Having already bought 15 keychain size gold and silver ones for Katie’s friends and a 6 inch turquoise one with rhinestones for Katie, we were set. Paul was tempted by the fake silk Eiffel tower scarves, which he mistook for wall hangings, to our delight, but ended up passing.

Just before 9, it started to get dusky and about 2 minutes before nine the tower lights turned on. Instead of facing outward, the lights are mounted on the outer parts of the tower façade and face inward.  The effect is stunning as the tower seems to glow yellow from within.  It simply can’t be captured on film.  The lights seemed to intensify over several minutes and about 2 minutes after nine, the light show started and the entire crowd at the Trocadero gasped. For about 5 minutes, twinkling white lights sparkled all over the tower until they ceased as suddenly as they began.  Reluctant to leave, we watched the scene some more as the vendors added all kinds of glowing items to their wares, including glowing parachute-like things that were shot into the air with increasing frequency.  We finally reached our fill, and our backsides were getting tired of the marble stairs, and we left the scene and headed home. Paul agreed that it was one of the most spectacular birthday celebrations ever.