Teddy in Paris Day 8: Eiffel Tower, CinéAqua Aquarium

The most challenging task in Paris is to get on the top of Eiffel Tower. Any time of day there is a line of thousands of people that guarantees you several hours of waiting time. There is a cut, but you have to buy online and provide exact day and time when you are planning to visit. We didn’t do that in advance and came at the opening time hoping that waiting time will be reasonable. It was chilly and rainy day with significant wind gust.


Luckily, early morning the line was short and we waited only twenty minutes to reach the elevator. We ascended to second level and started to walk around and spot Paris’ famous buildings that we already visited and those that we didn’t have chance to visit yet. Second level was relatively small and we had a problem to find a place to take pictures without other people on it. Then we moved to the third level observatory's upper platform that is at 279.11 m (915.7 ft). Even thought third level is smaller then second there was not too many people  and we had a chance to enjoy views of the Paris from the highest point accessible to the public in the European Union.

It was very nice view of Seine with bridges and moving ships. Champ de Mars caught out attention with its long green rectangles. We were surprised to find out that Gustave Eiffel had a small apartment on the top of Eiffel Tower. It was closed, but we were able to look inside through the windows.


As soon as Teddy recognized a monocular telescope, he asked for two euro coin and we could see Paris closer from the top. We bought some souvenirs and T-shirts in the boutique and took elevator to get back to the street level. By that time the waiting line formed to endless, only proving that "Go Early" rule works and we were glad that the biggest item in our Paris’ wish list was completed.


In our plan for the day was also visit to CinéAqua Aquarium that was conveniently located five minutes walk from Eiffel Tower. They have over 9000 fish and 26 sharks that live in more than 4 million litters of water including the largest tank in France. Teddy was exited to see so many different sea creatures. His favorite activity there was petting fish. In CinéAqua Aquarium there is a pool with all kinds of fish that come to you when you put hand in the water. You can touch them and they even try to kiss your hand and fingers. Teddy liked it so much. First time he  played with fish like with cat.


Teddy also spent a lot of time in Nautilus submarine where he turned steering wheel back and forward like  Captain Nemo. For Teddy the aquarium was the way more interesting than Eiffel Tower. Another amazing day came to the end and we had only one day left. We planed Seine Cruise and shopping for our last day in Paris.

 

This post is a part of the series of our travel adventures in Paris: March-April 2013. The other posts from this series can be found here:
Teddy in Paris Day 1: Arrival, Hotel, Eiffel Tower  
Teddy in Paris Day 2 Part I
Teddy in Paris Day 2 Part II: The Sainte Chapelle, The Conciergerie, The Pont-Neuf  
Teddy in Paris Day 3 The Château de Versailles
Teddy in Paris Day 4: Musée de l'Orangerie, Place de la Concorde, Champs-Élysées, Arc de Triomphe
Teddy in Paris Day 5: Disneyland
Teddy in Paris Day 6: Les Invalides, Musée de l'Armée, Musée Rodin and Musée d'Orsay  
Teddy in Paris Day 7: The Louvre