About a week before we left Denver, i.e. mid-March, I attempted to purchase advance tickets to visit the Eiffel Tower.  There were no tickets for March and but a few for April.  I reviewed various tour company packages, finding no March tickets.  Finally I found tickets for Sunday afternoon for a three hour walking tour of Paris that included direct access (meaning skipping the two hour line) to the Tower.

Boy was it cold.  Brunch at Ribe again and a visit to Champs Elysses for warmer clothes for our Arizona girl.  Then it was a nice walking tour with Sandemans (http://www.neweuropetours.eu/).  Professional, knowledegable guide and we did skip the line at the Eiffel Tower.  But it was an ugly day making for mediocre pictures and a frigid trip to the top of the tower resulting in no attempts at scenic pictures and only a couple of fast attempts at pictures of ourselves.  It was quite unpleasant.

We did venture out after warming up and stopped at a tiny Italian place called Alfio for dinner.  Seated 20 but should have seated 10.  It was outstanding, especially the chili infused olive oil.  I was pouring it on everything.  Hopefully Konnie will be trying to duplicate it when we get home.

Monday saw much better weather and after our daily brunch at Ribe we hit the Orangerie Museum, which is a terrific small museum with mostly impressionist work, and then Notre Dame.  My favorite place, Sainte Chapelle, is still undergoing a long-term restoration so we skipped it for now.  A stop at a fascinating nut store called La Pistacherie then dinner at the so-so Donia, an Armenian place where the food turned out to be not particularly interesting.

If we can survive the Passover celebration going on upstairs tonight, we’ll be ready for more adventure tomorrow.