Last day

The dreaded day had finally arrived--our last day in Paris and at the Olympics with J and B.  When you only get to see your kids one time per year, saying goodbye is difficult.  We made the best of it though by making an unplanned trip to Disneyland Paris. 

J and B had been monitoring the Disney app for the last couple days and the wait times for the rides for almost nonexistent--5 minutes or so.  We decided to go for it, jumped on the train that took us directly to the park.

It was true, the place was almost deserted.  Here's Sleeping Beauty's castle or in French "Chateau de la Belle a Bois Dormant".  Did y'all know that I've been doing daily French lessons with Duolingo for the last 250 days?  I wanted to know at least a few phrases so as not to be considered an entitled American.

I have to admit I didn't take many pictures of our visit to the park, but I was mesmerized by these yellow and purple flowers.

I think I see a painting in the future of these beauties.

We stayed a few hours then had to jump back on the train to go to the hotel, grab our luggage and get a taxi to the port to embark on our ship.

After dropping our bags off at the ship we started the trek to our 4:30 appointment to go to the very top of the Eiffel Tower.  Our ship was docked along the Seine not far from the Tower (it actually looked a lot closer than it actually was).

Lots of security before reaching the lifts for the ascent.  The first lift took us to the second floor of the Tower.  Some people had tickets only for the steps to the second floor with is 377 feet high.  We waited for Brian on the second floor because some rude tourists pushed him out of the way and the lift doors closed before he could board with the rest of us.

Great 360 degree views from up there.  That beautiful building in the distance is Montmarte which we never had time to visit.

You may recognize this stadium from the opening ceremony of the Olympics.  It's where all the athletes gathered after making their way down the Seine.  Not sure what sporting event was taking place there.

I could even focus in on our Viking ship.  Ours was the closest one to the shore.  Sometimes they tie the ships up two and three across.  We were on the Viking Kari.

There's the beach volleyball arena.  It sounded like they were having a great time down there.  Lots of hooting and hollering and music.  Probably the hottest ticket in town after lady's gymnastics.

Some people on the top deck of the tower seemed to be there to watch the game.  I finally had to ask if I could get up to the edge just to take a quick photo.

That's the Grand Palais over there.  I loved how Paris held many events at many of their historic and most beautiful sights.

Then it was time to make our way back to the ship.  Our feet were exhausted and we were hot and sweaty.  This was one of the 20,000 plus step days.  We said our goodbyes and gave big hugs.  J and B had located a Chipotle at a shopping mall nearby which is a special treat for them.  We jumped in the shower and arrived for dinner about 30 minutes late, but the wait staff didn't seem to mind.  They repositioned our ship during dinner so I was glad we got back when we did.

It was time to embark on our Seine voyage, well actually we had one more day in Paris, but now we were in our cabin and settled in.  Viking upgraded our cabin to a full veranda which was really nice.  I guess if you go on four Viking cruises in two years there are some perks.  Also, the Viking Kari had real walls for the bathroom in our cabin which was a huge improvement over the glass walls on our last ship.

Let the cruise begin!