dry notions: the long climb to the top

Ah yes, the Eiffel Tower. On Monday, after the Louvre, we had a delicious group picnic in the park below the tower (apparently we will never get tired of baguettes, meat and cheese). Then it was finally time to ascend the tower. I was all for taking the elevator (hey, broken back over here!), but the line was 10x as long as the line for the stairs. Plus the stairs option was about half the price, and we're all extremely thin on cash. Even though I was already exhausted, and even though I had a WWII paper due that night that I needed energy for, and even though I really really didn't want to... I agreed, nay I was convinced (coerced), to make the climb. 728 steps later, we were on the second level. From there, we had to take the elevator up to the very top. IT WAS SO WORTH IT! The view was probably the greatest view I have ever seen of any city. We were climbing up around sunset, and we got to the top just after the sun had passed below the horizon (aka, the best time possible to take pictures). We stayed up until 9pm when there is a light show on the tower for 5 minutes on every hour. Ian Clark fake proposed to Laura Shank and convinced a bunch of people around us that he was serious, so funny. After we climbed down, we found some savory crepes and went to town. All in all, best night in Paris thus far. (and yes, I did finish my paper... eventually)