Do We Really Look like lost Americans?

Question of the Day: How many rivets/bolts are in the Eiffel Tower? ( answer below)

Our first day in Paris was.......hmmmmm.....interesting. The flight was thankfully uneventful and we landed at Charles de Gaulle airport. Now, was it the ¨I'm a lost American sign on our foreheads¨, the fact that we were in a huge airport trying to find how to get on the Paris subway system speaking very little French, or that we are just plain trusting people? Either way, I guess we looked like an easy target. An especially helpful English speaking man noticed we were having trouble figuring out where to go and offered his assistance in helping us to get our subway tickets. Sparing you all the details, let's just say that they ended up being VERY expensive subway tickets for a one way ride.



We finally found our hotel and were told by the front desk we'd been had by the ex-nice English-speaking man. We settled in and having had just about a half an hour sleep, headed out to begin exploring Paris. They say Paris is a small city..........I don't think so!!!! We finally figured out the subway system and saw sites like Notre Dame Cathedral, catacombs with literally millions of human bones all stacked neatly way underground, a relaxing boat ride down the Seine River, and to end the day we saw the Eiffel Tower at night-time.......SPECTACULAR!!!!! We ended the day enjoying our first (but not our last) official crepé and literally fell into bed. We slept really well that night.

The 2nd day found us up bright and early and heading off to a cathedral called Sàcre Coéur. It sits atop a hillside overlooking the entire city. It took around 100 steps JUST to get to the cathedral, and then it took another 300 up to get to the dome at the top. The view was breathtaking!!! (or was it the fact that we were completely out of breath after 700 steps?) We saw the Louvré Museum but did not get to meet the Mona Lisa. We climbed the Eiffel Tower to the first level and strolled the Chàmps d'Ellysé looking for bargains. We did remember our sweet daughters back home and purchased a couple of items of ¨haute couture.¨ We viewed the Arc de Triumphe and it is huge! We dragged outselves back again to the hotel and figured we'd climbed over 1,000 steps that day. Though we saw many things, we sure could've used another day in Paris. We would have loved to see inside the Louvre and I really wanted to make a trip to the palace in Versaille. Next trip?

ANSWER: 2,500,000 bolts/rivets