Vagabond Artist

Yesterday I decided to do the most touristy thing I could think of so decided between going to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre or to going up the Eiffel tower. Seeing how it was nice despite that it was freakin cold and there was even snow on the ground at Luxembourg Gardens I thought I would go to the Eiffel tower.

It was sort of the wrong decision because there were protests planned for the passing of the olympic flame, duh. Didn't I hear that on the radio? Yes. So I went after lunch. The metro at Trocadero was closed all day so I got off two stops ahead and went to the Ecole Militaire and had photos of myself taken with this huge belly then walked over to the outrageous lines at the Eiffel tower.

I asked the one of the guys in charge if they had a priority for pregnant women and he said yes but at the moment it was closed. I hung out at the beginning of the line where he said i could for awhile and then realized that no elevators were going and that the third level was closed. What is the point of goin up the tower if you can't go to the top. so I decided to walk over to Place Trocadero to this nice cafe, Cafe Trocadero and have a tea.

As i moved away from the line I discovered why the tower was closed, these guys had climbed up to hang this sign

Then I crossed the busy road and walked accross the bridge to go up the stairs to Place Tocadero but that is exactly where the olympic flame was passing. The bridge was lined with police vans.

I hung out on the bridge thinking that I might see the olympic flame go by and saw supporters of the Tibetans screaming at the supportors of the Chinese and vice versa. After a long time I could see the end of the parade and that is when it looked tense. I moved away thinking that there was going to be a riot and saw the police mace the nutshell of Tibetan supporters. Finally the police opened the passage and we could all cross the street to climb the stairs to Tocadero. I got to the top and then Place was blocked by more Tibetans and protestors. The police asked me and everyone else to leave so I had to walk all the way around the Musée de la Marine to get to the cafe I wanted to sit at.

It was nice to sit down. Finally the protest dispersed and I decided to go wondering what to do, take a cab home or go to the closest metro, Trocadero was still closed. I decided to walk back down past the Eiffel tower and over to where I could cathc the bus.
When I arrived under the tower i saw that they had reopened the third floor so I asked again if I there was priority for pregnant women. Yes. They guy asked me how many somthing. I said 8 months because if they knew I was past due they might not let me up. He laughed and asked how many in my party. Just me. Then he escorted me to the top of the ticket line and then to the top of the elevator line. It was a real VIP treatment and a great way to go up the tower.