Because she was a local Grace and Jaden’s parents allowed Sophie to take the kids touring in the city She spoke English really well though she had a funny accent Mom said it was because Sophie learned English in England instead of in America They went out onto a platform that surrounded the top level of the Eiffel Tower Grace staggered against the strong winds The floor vibrated beneath her feet They were so high up that the city below didn’t even seem real Fortunately a wire cage surrounded the platform so no one could fall off Sophie still didn’t want to get close to the edge They spent a few minutes looking out over the city Then an announcement came over speakers Sophie reacted to the French before the message was repeated in English They are closing this level because of the winds she said She led the way to the glass-sided elevators and they rode down to the second floor At the railing they looked out over the city They were still high enough up to see far but now they could pick out more detail Stripes of green trees cut through the closely packed buildings Most of the buildings close to the tower were at least four or five stories high They looked tiny from up on the tower Farther in the distance modern skyscrapers rose up The wind blew Grace’s hair around her face The whole tower seemed to sway and she clutched one of the big metal beams She didn’t like being so high even with the railing to prevent a fall Brr Sophie said Let’s go around to the other side and get out of this wind They worked their way past other tourists The river Seine cut through the city not far from the tower The cars on the bridge over the river looked tiny The boats drawn up along each side
On the far side of the river green trees clustered around an open plaza or park A building with lots of columns stretched out in a line behind it What’s that Grace asked The gardens Or the palace behind it The Palais de Chaillot has some museums and a theater It’s not that old though less than a hundred years Jaden laughed That’s really really old Sophie shrugged Not for Paris Not for France You come from a young country Remember what we learned here The Eiffel Tower opened in 1889 And that was the hundredth anniversary of the French Revolution When all those people died Jaden said Yes many people died Sophie agreed The peasants rebelled against the nobles They wanted an equal vote and equal rights It was similar to your American Revolution However America was a new country rebelling against the British In France the fight was inside the country poor French against rich French of the river were huge in comparison Grace was impressed by how much Sophie knew about history American as well as French Everything Grace knew about French history she’d learned since moving to France a few weeks before Sophie glanced up at the heavy gray clouds The weather is only going to get worse I hoped to have a picnic lunch and maybe go to the amusement park this afternoon There are boat rides and puppet shows But that will be better saved for a different day We should hurry home before the rain comes A lot of other people seemed to have the same idea and were waiting in a long line for the elevator The children decided to take the stairs They walked down almost 700 steps to the
ground Grace’s legs wobbled by the time they got down and walking on flat ground felt strange at first As they crossed a plaza Grace turned back to take a photo The Eiffel Tower was so tall it hardly fit in her camera screen The purple and gray clouds swirling behind it made a dramatic picture The lacy metalwork of the tower seemed delicate and fragile from this distance They had actually gone up in that to the top platform Just thinking about it made her feel a little sick She hurried to catch up with Sophie and Jaden We should bring Mom and Dad and Joy back here one day Grace said Their mother usually taught at a university in Seattle She was a guest lecturer in Paris for the summer It kept her very busy Their father worked from home writing articles about travel and food Now he also took care of their new adopted sister Joy was two years old but she’d only joined their family a few months ago after Mom and Dad brought her back from China Grace was adopted from China when she was a baby too Jaden was also adopted but from within the United States They were all enjoying living in France for the summer With Mom and Dad so busy Grace was glad they had Sophie The French girl was more like a friend than a babysitter and they got to go to many more places because of her They entered the Paris Metro the subway system The underground trains could take them all across the city That meant they could visit places without needing someone to drive them And it was fun riding on the trains like locals instead of tourists Tourists rode the trains as well you could pick them out by their confused expressions as they studied the maps Grace now understood that the colored lines on the map showed the various train paths She could figure out how to get to the station
near her house from almost anywhere They got off the train near the house Grace’s family was renting Sophie said We will buy some food and take our picnic inside today Almost every day they bought food at a little shop and had a picnic It was one of Grace’s favorite things about Paris They argued about which cheese to buy Jaden liked the mild ones but Grace preferred stronger hard cheeses Sophie liked the stinkiest blue cheeses best They wound up getting some of each along with some fruit and a fresh loaf of crusty French bread Their rental house was in a long row of houses all together in one big building the whole block long From the sidewalk steps led up to the front door of the narrow three-story house Sophie’s house was next in the row At the back of each house was a tiny garden and behind that another line of row houses They went in and let their father know they were home He was in the middle of writing something and Joy had woken from a nap so they took the little girl down to have lunch They sat in the kitchen eating bread cheese and fruit while rain splattered against the windows What are we going to do now Jaden moaned Sophie frowned for a moment I know We will explore the attic Why what’s up there Grace asked Sophie shrugged Who knows But the woman who lived here before you is very old I heard that when she went to live with her granddaughter and they cleaned the house they found the attic packed full They decided it was too much trouble to go through everything so they simply left it Things must be very old
