It’s the second to last day of Paris, and so my second to last post about Paris! I bet you’re kind of tired of all my “omg, Paris is amaaaazing” whining, eh? Anyway, day 6 was our basic bee day, in that we went to the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and got macarons at Ladurée. Say what you will about being a basic bee, but there’s a reason these things are so mainstream, and that reason is that they’re DAMN good! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Our journey starts at a Batobus station! This is the boat that shuttles down the Seine and stops at major tourist points, like the Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower (our destination). I was so :O when I realized “bato” sounds like “bateau”, which is boat in French.

We ate breakfast – a baguette and brie cheese purchased on the morning walk, as per custom – while waiting for the boat to arrive, and here’s a GIF of me having an awful time and my brother having a wonderful time while tormenting me. Enjoy.

@WritingOnTheWall – same.

Our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower!! Much more impressive when you’re not standing on top of it, I gotta say. The view’s overhyped, in my opinion.

This was just the line to get through security! I mean, it definitely makes sense with the terror attacks that have happened in Paris, but I was like :O when I saw it. And then we had to queue again to get to the stairs, and queues are never fun.

We took the stairs instead of the elevator, because it’s cheaper and the lines are shorter. Pro tip: if you’re going to the Eiffel Tower and you want to get up quickly, and you also have like €300 to blow on a meal, make reservations at one of the fancy restaurants in the tower. People with reservations get to go up with no line! And I think for free too? Don’t quote me on that last one, but the no line thing is definitely true. I did appreciate how every once in a while there were informational panels so you could learn about the thing you’re wheezing on, and all the stairs are numbered too.

That’s the line we were in! And, that’s the line for the stairs – just imagine how long the elevator line is…

I think this was a panel about iconic films featuring Paris, but I was mostly excited about Ratatouille. I really want to watch it in French!

This little ‘Place to Kiss’ circle was super gimmicky and I realize that it’s probably for PR so people can tag the Eiffel Tower in their Instagram pictures or whatever, but it was still cute AF. I am but a cog in the consumerist capitalist machine we live in, I’m afraid…

Gift shop finds featuring cats! One of my favorite things of all time.

I thought this play on The New Yorker was funny, too.

And now we’re off again! Towards the Champs-Elysées/the Arc de Triomphe/Ladurée, but most importantly in our minds – TO LUNCH!

I think this is a memorial to Princess Diana, because it’s above the tunnel where she was fatally injured in that car crash. It was super morbid and chilling to be standing there and know that someone had died there. Or, well, not even specifically there, but because of something that happened there. A weird feeling, I guess is my point.

Here’s a photo of me not enjoying red wine! I’m not really a red wine person, to be honest. There! I said it! I’ve spent a couple years now trying to force myself to enjoy red wine and be a cool wine connoisseur, lol, and I think the jig is up. I like fruit-flavored cocktails which have so much fruit juice you can’t taste the booze in ’em. Or sophisticated drinks like Jello shots.So, the Dior “we should all be feminists” thing. The sentiment of everyone being feminists – hell yeah! Couldn’t agree more! But, like, using it to sell your products? Idk, man. I’m never sure whether stores/brands/companies are being progressive because it’s kind of trendy right now so they know the demographic they’re aiming for will appreciate it, or if they genuinely want to throw the weight of their brand behind this movement to advance it further. Like, remember the “this is what a feminist looks like” shirts that were being made in sweatshops by women who weren’t being treated well at all? And all the celebrities wore them and were praised? You gotta wonder, man. You gotta wonder where Dior’s making this feminist merch.

On a lighter note – Ladurée! The birthplace of the macaron!

This chocolate bunny was the creeeeepiest thing. Does it look cute to you? It doesn’t to me, so I’m just wondering who they’re selling it to.

After that, we’re off to the Arc de Triomphe~!

I don’t know what this means, but I like it. Become what? Idk! But it’s cool to think that you’re always becoming the next version of yourself – that’s its meaning to me, at least.

It was so hard getting to the actual Arch, dude. We stood across the giant roundabout for ages and just wondered how on earth we were meant to cross it, and then we tried, like, 3 different tunnels before we happened across the right one. But we got there in the end!

See what I mean about the Eiffel Tower being so much more “oooh”-inducing when you’re just looking at it from afar and not on top of it? PS. this weird vignette was not added in post-production, I think it’s from a fence.

Our box of expensive ass macarons… Why are they so expensive?! I need to learn how to make them so I can circumvent this $$ sucking… (Yeah, probably the costs of learning how to do so + materials I’ll fail with + materials I’ll succeed with will = much more than it would to just buy a box of macarons every once in a while. But you know!)

The Eiffel Tower lights up at night and sparkles for a minute every hour, on the hour, so we decided to wait until nightfall so we could see it from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

It’s so pretty sparkling away!!

And, back home we go on the metro!

Now, the French election is over – and thank god Le Pen didn’t win! When we were there, posters were all over the place for it, like this one for Mélenchon with this slogan next to it. I think it says “the true politics is simply the service to a neighbor”?

And I think this one says, “Love is the unique revolution which has not betrayed man.” If I’m wrong and you speak French, pls let me know!