She's so high

We had no concrete plans Saturday or Sunday with the exception of one booking Sunday afternoon so the weekend was very much choose your own adventure.

We spent Saturday morning sorting our lives out a bit - tidying the apartment, doing a load of washing - before heading to the Paris mint, known locally as Monnaie de Paris.

Monnaie de Paris is not far from us along the banks of the Seine and, although the main production of currency was moved offsite to a new facility in the 1970s, it continues to produce a number of significant items. Just as it did for the Paris Olympic Games in 1924, the mint was responsible for the creation of every medal issued to athletes at the 2024 Games and the upcoming Paralympic Games. All of France's citizen award medals are also produced within this facility.

We were keen to explore the mint following our last visit to France where we collected a gold coin from each of the major tourist attractions we visited that depicted each place. We collected about 15 coins seven years ago - each one minted at Monnaie de Paris.

The site includes a large museum space which delves into the history of the institution as well as coin-making. Parts of the museum actually pass through the workshops where you can watch staff as they create the coins and medals for which the mint is renowned. We couldn't watch them though... The pitfalls of visiting the museum on a weekend.

Every Olympic medal for the Paris Games was made in the city.

We spent a couple of hours at the mint before heading home in the rain. We had also walked to the mint in the rain. Teneille wanted to buy an umbrella from a souvenir shop before stubbornly marching through the rain sans umbrella after I suggested the cheap nondescript version as opposed to the 13 euro version decorated with Paris landmarks. I'm not paying 13 euro for a bloody umbrella!

We hung our washing before heading out to dinner with a friend.

This is Eddie. Eddie enjoys long walks on Australian beaches and buying churches in his spare time. Eddie resides in the UK at the moment and popped across the channel to catch up with us over the weekend before heading back.

Eddie and a view.

We had dinner with Eddie at a small place around the corner from our apartment where Teneille, yet again, ordered onion soup. That's about the fourth time. She's trying every onion soup she can before we go home. There was one place we investigated as a dinner option which Teneille vetoed because they didn't have onion soup on the menu. I think she has a problem.

Sunday dawned with clearer weather and we resolved to declare this day the day of the two towers. It sounds like a JRR Tolkien book but it isn't. We had a booking to climb the Eiffel Tower in the afternoon and decided to spend the morning climbing Montparnasse Tower.

What is Montparnasse Tower? Well, my friends, it is really easy to find. Simply stand in the middle of Paris and look around you. Yes, that's the Louvre over there next to Jardin de Tuileries. Well done, you spotted the Eiffel Tower as well. That ugly skyscraper spearing hundreds of metres above the beautiful Parisian terraces and streets around it without any thought to historical aesthetic? Why that's Montparnasse Tower. It was built in the 1970s. Can't you tell from the lovely brown colour of the entire building?

The ugliest building in Paris?

I don't like Montparnasse Tower. It was a ridiculous place to dump a tower into a beautiful landscape. The only redeeming feature of the building is that when you stand on the roof you can't see it. But you can see the rest of Paris. It offers an even better view than the Eiffel Tower because you can see the whole city, including the Eiffel Tower.

Eddie joined us at Montparnasse for the view before we descended and sought out lunch before grabbing a metro to the Eiffel Tower. The entry barriers in the metro station didn't like our tickets and refused to let us through. We eventually found different barriers that did like us, but not before a five-minute walk to try and find someone to help us. The police, who all carry a metro card to open barriers, could have let us through like they did for the woman whose bag got jammed in the doors when she didn't move through fast enough. But instead sent us to find the information desk despite seeing we carried valid tickets.

The view from Montparnasse is pretty good, though.

After successfully navigating the French railway system again we arrived at Teneille's favourite place on Earth. No, not Outback Steakhouse. The Eiffel Tower. We breezed through security quickly and had a wander beneath the tower before joining the lines for our lift up top. The lines seemed substantial but moved pretty quickly.

The lifts took us to the second floor of the tower before we grabbed the next lift to the summit. The view was amazing apart from that brown skid mark of the Paris skyline, Montparnasse, and it was interesting to see the deconstruction work underway on some of the Olympic venues. We could see directly into the beach volleyball stadium I had been sitting at just one week earlier and already the sand had been cleared out as workers begin tearing down the greatest temporary stadium in the world.

The height up top made Teneille quite nervous, even as we sipped champagne. We tried to get a couple of selfies but the smile never quite reached the terror in her eyes. She's so high above me... but she didn't like it. We spent a bit of time up top before taking a lift back to the second floor and then descending the rest of the way by stairs.

You might be wondering if Teneille is still the same sicko from seven years ago who licked the Eiffel Tower. The answer is yes.

Champagne and a view and the terror in Teneille's eyes.

No caption required.

After braving the metro back home, we stopped at the local supermarket to get some baguettes and baguette fillings for dinner.

Monday is a free day for us also before a couple of packed days with Disneyland and Versailles. Until then, au revoir.