ADVENTURES BY DISNEY - DAY 5

We had a mid morning departure time today of only 10:30 am.   Like our London hotel, our Paris hotel had a breakfast buffet that was included.   We were able to go and have breakfast at our leisure and relax a bit before meeting our group.
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Our first stop of the day was the Eiffel Tower.  We all had an opportunity to take photos and then we made our way through security and up the elevator to the first floor of the Tower.   We had lunch as a group in the restaurant there.   After lunch, Valerie gave us a little tour of the first level of the Tower and told us what we were seeing from there.   Then we had some free time.   Brave souls – like Sue and Carrie – walked up the stairs to the second floor.   Chris and I checked out the gift shop and more around the first floor.   We all had to meet at the base of the tower.  Even going down the stairs from the first floor was a lot.

Our next stop was another Adventures by Disney hands on experience.  We went to Ecole Ducasse, a French culinary school, to learn to make macarons. 

We were divided into two groups and went into two separate kitchens.   We met our instructor and we each received an apron with the school logo which we were able to keep. 

Giuseppe was our instructor.   He was funny and patient with us.  Some elements he had prepped in advance but we all got to do at least part of the process.   We all took a try at piping out the batter for the cookies and at the end we each piped the filling and completed the macarons.
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When we were done, they had a small reception area set up for us with drinks and each group was able to taste the other groups macarons as well as our own.
Like archery, this was a fun experience and one of my favorites of the trip.

After macaron making, we went back to the hotel for a break and then we were back together at 7:30 pm to go on a dinner cruise on the Seine.  We got to see the Eiffel Tower lit up before we boarded the boat but was raining.   When we disembarked the boat later, we were able to see it clearly and see it sparkle – which it does every hour for five minutes.  

The dinner cruise was very nice.   We saw the sites along the Seine lit up and I was remembering back to the opening ceremony of the Olympics.  It was such a shame that the weather was so awful that night as having the ceremony along the Seine was such a unique idea.  We were also able to see the Statue of Liberty and get some great pictures of it with the Eiffel Tower.
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Today was Chris’ and my actual anniversary.  The guides had a card and pins for us while on the cruise.