La Tour Eiffel

 This is how early Scott and Freestone got up for their expedition to the Eiffel Tower.  It was still dark outside!  It opens at 9:30 and you have to be there well in advance if you don't want to spend your European vacation standing in a very long line. 

 Scott and Free got lucky; they were plucked from the line by an Australian tour guide.  She told them she had two extra tickets for a 9:30 reservation, so they were able to bypass the line and go up in the very first group of the day!  And for free, too!  I thought it was so nice that the tour guide chose Scott and Free out of all the people in the line.  It made their day.

 Look at the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.  The free tickets were just for the second floor, and Freestone decided that was high enough.  Which reminds me, when we were sitting in the airplane in Salt Lake, waiting to take off, Freestone was having a little anxiety.  Looking out his window, he was saying, "We're high enough already!  Let's get off the plane."  And we were still on the ground!  Later, at 30,000 feet, Freestone said, "I can't believe I thought we were so high before we even took off."  The Eiffel Tower isn't exactly above the clouds, but it's close enough.

 Freestone said his favorite thing about the Eiffel Tower was getting a bag of chocolate coins at the gift shop.  I was surprised at how much of a shopper Freestone was on this trip.  Like father, like son, I guess!

While Scott and Freestone were having their father-son experience, Tziporah and I went out to enjoy the morning.  We had breakfast at a little cafe by the river and visited all the shops along the quai.  While it's fun to be with Scott and the gang, I'm a solitary being at heart, and I love to be alone with my thoughts, especially in Paris.  I think back to all the times I was in Europe alone as a young woman, my future largely unmapped.  I remember standing in the Mediterranean Sea at age 20, wondering who I would eventually share my life with, relishing in my freedom but, ironically, longing for someone to share it with.  Now, stolen moments of solitude are all the more sweet for their scarcity and brevity.  One of my favorite moments of the trip was later when Scott and Trajan had gone to return the crib and Freestone was at the apartment reading.  Tziporah and I ventured out to see Notre Dame one last time and to pick up some last-minute souvenirs.  It started to rain and I ducked into a brasserie across the quai from Notre Dame.  Tizzy fell asleep and I stood at the counter drinking my little drink with a group of strangers, looking out through the rain to the majestic cathedral.  I felt like I was so young and free again, but with the added satisfaction of having my baby with me and knowing who "my people" are, knowing they are waiting for me.