Last Day in Paris!

Last day in Paris!

We started the morning by visiting the Eiffel Tower!  We decided to pay to ride the lift all the way to the top-- which was awesome.  Gorgeous views of Paris and we were even able to point out some of the places we’d been!  The Eiffel Tower itself is pretty much like the pictures.  It’s funny, when the tower was originally built, people protested it because it was an ugly addition to their skyline.  When I first saw the Eiffel Tower up close, I had the same impression.  It’s pretty much a giant tower of iron-- not super attractive.  But once you get used to it a little, it becomes more endearing.

The artsy picture of the Eiffel Tower.

This is the view of Paris from the very top.

This is the view straight down from the very top.  Those are people down there.

 We visited the Arc de Triomphe which was also cool.  We did not ascend it though.  We did however spend a little time browsing Champs-Élysées, although the high prices quickly bored us. 

The Arc.

 We returned to the hotel for a quick rest and then headed back out to Sacré-Cœur Basilica.  This church is beautiful.  The outside is gorgeous architecture, but the inside is breath-taking.  I really wish they would’ve allowed photos.  Another great thing about Sacred Heart is it’s location.  It is on top of a large hill from which you can see a great chunk of Paris.  We watched the sunset here.

Sacred Heart with perfect lighting.

This is the view of Paris from Sacred Heart.

After that we were off to our final pre-travel destination: the Eiffel Tower... at night.  Starting at 9pm, on the hour every hour there is a 5 minute light show on the Eiffel Tower.  It’s nothing super fancy, but seeing the Tower sparkle is just kind of mesmerizing. 

Eiffel at night!

Really poor picture of the light show, but you get the idea.

We returned to our hotel to pack for the last time for the next 7 weeks!  Athens bound!