Our time here was most definitely not over yet. The sleep in the park was peaceful if you ignored the distant hum of some sort of festival. We laughed, likening it to our times camping at festivals at least these metal walls were more substantial than a canvas tent. Still we slept well and our alarm went off at the crack of dawn – no understatement there it was legitimately 5am. We had a vision in our head, the van in front of the most iconic destinations in Paris. The first stop wasn’t far and Joshua circled the Arch De Triomphe I could see how happy he was. This was his goal and with each circle I could see his grin which made my heart burst.
Hopping back in we buzzed down the windy one way streets and pulled up outside the biggest icon the Eiffel Tower. Not a soul in site it was perfection. The dawn light made the perfect backdrop and the sky suggested another beautiful day lay ahead. After snapping away hundreds of angles and settings to make sure we had it perfect we went back to the park and snuck in a couple more hours sleep because well we are on holiday and we wanted a rest. Another couple of hours sorted us right out and we sprung back out of bed and decided to cycle back over to the Eiffel Tower. Pulling up just as the gates opened was the plan and it meant hardly any queuing and we were soon taking the stairs (got to get our step count up/chose the wrong queue) to the first floor. That for me seemed high enough but then there was a second floor. We took the next flight and jelly legs were setting in. The breeze was getting strong and the ground so far away focussing only on the step in front I knew if I stopped I wouldn’t be able to go any further. What felt like an eternity later we reached the second level. The views were stunning and thankfully it wasn’t massively busy as my anxiety was making me worry all the weight would break the floor you know all completely rational thoughts. As soon as I started to feel that bit more settled Joshua whipped out the tickets and with a grin told us we were going all the way to the top. My heart was in my mouth as I stepped over the tiny crack in the floor into the lift. I needed to do this I desperately wanted to, it was one of those things on my bucket list despite my head telling me no but my heart yes we slowly clicked our way up the lift shaft. The one comfort in my ever growing fear is that there was a small child sharing the lift so if he could do it then so could I! After anther eternal trip we finally reached the top. I expected a fanfare and to feel fantastic like I had achieved something so great but instead I was still petrified and clinged to the edges of the rails along the whole of the tiny platform and after few loops I started to get my legs back. We took our obligatory selfie and pushed our way through the growing crowds on the minuscule edge soaking in every second of the perfect moment. The hum off different languages, the warmth of the sun and the chill of the breeze added to the magic. We were both so exhausted from being so scared and probably the 5am alarm we decided to treat ourselves.
I am an avid trip advisor, pre looking ad check reviews kind of gal and so we headed to a cheap eat the Happy Cafe. Located in what felt like a rather affluent part of town this tiny hole in the wall looked so out of place. We clicked our bikes along the pavement past grand hotels and designer shops before we approached the place but it lived up to the name with the owner giving up relationship advice and how we will be so intelligent after travelling the world. Hopefully his words come good! We snapped up some crepes and headed over to the nearby park to relax in the sunshine whilst we planned our next adventure. The relaxed atmosphere was much like where we had parked our van and I hoped it was close by…how wrong I was. We were MILES away and by now the flow of traffic and crowds had grown out of control. Our push bikes were so hard to manoeuvre around the city I would not recommend it as a mode of transport especially carrying six two litre bottles of water in a broken front basket anyway. But to cut a long story short we made it back very sweaty and stressed but still equally as happy at what an absolutely fantastic day we’d had.
