Paris: A ride up The Eiffel Tower!

Hello everyone!  I am back and feeling better than ever!  This is ONE OF THE REASONS I LOVE TRAVELING!  When you get that euphoric feeling of bliss looking back on all the pictures you took and realizing it was not a dream!  I can confess my anxiety was pretty bad leading up to this trip.  I would wake up in the middle of the night having terrifying thoughts.  I was informed a few weeks ago that my friend who I was going to meet up in Istanbul had a flight modification.  She was now arriving 12 hours later with her family.  Initially I had booked my flight based on the time she was arriving so I could meet up with her at the airport.  Now everything had changed.

Although I have traveled solo to other countries, I have never been to such a huge city!!  I was mortified when I realized 15 million people live in Istanbul.  The last big city I had visited was London and that had a population of just 9 million.  I was worried I was going to get lost, or would stand out wandering around by myself.  I read up as much as I could leading up to my trip.  Initially that backfired on me (I had read a disturbing article about a female solo traveler who went missing in Istanbul).  I knew the only way to overcome my fears was to be fully prepared for anything.

One of the tidbits I learned during my frantic need of information is ways to be safe in another country for female travelers.  I attached a whistle to my key chain to carry with me at all times.  I registered to the United States Embassy for any updates on France and Turkey.  I also brought with me a plastic door stopper to use for my hotel door room in case I didn’t feel safe.  I realized I should have been doing these things years ago, but now I felt better in knowing that I did the best that I could to prepare myself.

Turkey were holding their local elections the week prior and I monitored the news as well.  In the meantime, Paris were still battling the Yellow Jackets on a weekly basis.  For the first time in years I felt uneasy about visiting Paris.  The only comfort I had was knowing that most of the protests were taking place during the weekends, and I would be in Istanbul during that time.  

Regardless, I had to get through my time in Paris first before worrying about Istanbul.  As usual, I didn’t have much sleep leading up to the trip.  I worked that day and left early to go back home.

I was pretty nervous at the airport.  Luckily, my brother who works for O’hare airport, came by to visit me at Frontera Grill while I had my pre-flight glass of wine.  That was very sweet of him.

Unfortunately, my flight was not too comfortable.  I couldn’t put my seat back.  I slept on and off throughout the whole time.  I did manage to watch some films.  I finally saw Lady Gaga’s movie “A Star is Born”.  At least now I know what the fuss was about!

Once I landed I contacted my friend who wanted to see me during his lunchtime from work.  I took a cab to Paris (which ran about 55 euros) and waited for him until he showed up.  It was nice seeing him.  We made plans to see each other later on again.

I made my way to my hotel and showered up.  Since now it was late afternoon, I knew I didn’t have much time to check out a museum.  I decided to find Rue L’Universite on my own.  I’ve been secretly wondering where the infamous shot of the Eifel Tower was and I managed to track it down on Instagram.  Many tourists have taken photos there because of the street leading up to the tower.  It was gorgeous indeed.  I decided to walk over to see how long the line was to ride up the elevator.  Since the weather was crappy, the line was not too bad.  I decided to go for it!

It took about half an hour to finally get up the elevator.  I am afraid of heights so I chose to not go all the way to the top.  Regardless the view was amazing!
Afterwards my friend messaged me that he was getting off from work.  The winds were very gusty and I decided to head over to his place instead of venturing out some more.  Like they say, tomorrow is another day!