Approved For Mailing: OMG Cheesy.... Paris

Last weekend we took a four day trip to Paris, both Michael and myself had already been but for some ridiculous reason, I cant quite remember, we wanted to take the kids. I guess just so they could say that they have seen it (worst reason ever.) So we got an apartment that slept five on the out skirts of town reasonably priced, nothing special but functional in the fact there were actually enough beds for our whole family. We arrived around 11 in the afternoon and headed straight for the train in the direction of the Eiffel Tower, we neglected to pre-purchase our tickets to go to the top and when we arrived there was a snaking line a mile long all around the base of the tower... this may or may not have caused a fight between me and Michael.. When Oliver saw the tower for the fist time he yelled OMG Cheesy, I don't know what he meant, or if he even knew what he meant, but it was funny. We laid in the lawn for a bit then got back on the train to Notre Dame. Notre Dame according to the kids was just another big church. Sad isn't it when a famous land mark becomes just another church? Oh well, we walked around a little but, it was also crazy crowded and we decided to walk down to the Orsay Museum because the train line was out of order. Several miles later with tired kids we got there only to find out it was closing early for some unknown reason. Ugh.... Paris was proving a little difficult by then It did not seem beautiful and romantic just crowded and dirty.
Day two the Louvre ... bright and early we headed to the Louvre to.... stand in line some more. After getting in we hit up all the famous statues and pictures until our legs felt like they were going to fall off. We ate in the cafeteria area for lunch and had the best Mediterranean food, if your in the area I would recommend the cafeteria everything we had was delicious. Then we went to the lock bridge closest to the Louvre which is what the kids had been waiting for.(forget the Mona Lisa when you could draw on your own lock) They each got a lock and decorated it with the American flag and the Texas flag of course name, date, etc. They were very excited so we locked them up and they deiced to keep their keys but me and Michael through ours in the river Seine, never to be seen again. From there are we walked all the way from the Louvre to the Arc de triumph, which is a three mile walk down the gardens and shopping district! I did get to stop at Laduree's for some famous macaroons. They are just so beautiful !Six tiny cookies cost 15 euros but to me they were worth it. The arc was another arch, much like another church, big and arch like.. Then we headed back to the Eiffel tower to try one more time. We had no other choice but to get in the seemingly unending line and wait our turn. The only thing that made up for our 2 hour wait... we made it on top right at sun set and it was beautiful. I can't not use the word romantic here because there were literally so many people up there with us you were constantly being bumped and elbowed, but the view was unforgettable. Then we saw the city of lights lit up from the very top. One the way back down there was a young America couple in the elevator that had just gotten engaged on the top, they had their family with them. All I could think was what a horrible place to get engaged!! surrounded by 100's of tourist bumping into you in the most unprivate crowded setting. Some times it's just the idea that sounds good... she can just tell people she got engaged on top of the Eiffel tower and leave out the part where strangers were breathing on her neck the whole time and she had to push her way into the elevator to leave the "romantic" tower. Once we got down we ate at a corner café outside and I had the most amazing French Onion soup and the kids had 18 euro cheese burgers, oh well that's Paris.