Paris Day 1: the Eiffel Tower

This is what we got up to on our first day in Paris. After a lovely soufflé lunch and a nap to refresh us after that 11.5-hour red-eye flight from Hong Kong, we headed out to the Eiffel Tower. Our little boy had been quite obsessed with seeing this structure for a couple of weeks prior to our arrival in France, and he was ecstatic to see it very up close. This first encounter only fed his obsession, and he requested everyday for the next four days to go and see the Eiffel Tower. We saw the tower in the daylight and also all lit up after dusk. The sun sets very late in the summer at close to 10pm, so it was a very late night for us all when we finally got back to our hotel past midnight (especially for our boy whose usual bedtime is at 7:30pm). But it was all worth it. This is an Eiffel Tower-heavy post (to add to the two "day-and-night" photos in this post), and I hope you can appreciate her beauty through these photos.

The Eiffel Tower as seen from Palais de Chaillot in Trocadero, with the fountains in the foreground:

At the right place at the right time! The Fountain of Warsaw at the Gardens of Trocadéro suddenly came on and projected a jet of water over fifty metres! It sprayed those of us who were on either sides of the water feature:

The Eiffel up close:

Silhouetted by the setting sun:

The Champ de Mars is a very popular picnic spot for the Parisians and tourists alike. This shot was taken facing the École Militaire on the far opposite end of Champ de Mars from the Eiffel Tower:

After a very late dinner, we walked through Champ de Mars again towards Trocadéro, and it was dark by this time. This is the view of the Eiffel Tower from the Champ de Mars side (you can see the other side of the tower lit up with the blue and red lights here:

At 11pm, we were treated to a lovely 10-minute twinkling light show as we were making our way back towards Trocadéro Metro station. The Eiffel Tower twinkles nightly on the hour after nightfall:

Stay tuned for more blog updates on our trip!