Final Night in Paris

On the Champ Elysees in front of the Arc de Triomphe

Our final day in Paris was spent just soaking in the city and experiencing Parisian life.  One of the things we really hadn't done is be out late and experiencing the City of Lights at night.  It's not been getting dark until almost 9:30, so we were usually back in our own neighborhood by then.  I suggested we stroll the Champ Elysees and go to the top of the Arc de Triomphe which would give us nice views of the City and the Eiffel Tower.  We didn't leave the apartment until after 8:00 and took the Metro over to the Champ Elysees.  We strolled along the wide boulevard and did a little window shopping at Louis Vitton, Mont Blanc, Cartier, and other ritzy stores we couldn't begin to afford.  We went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe about 9:15.  Our museum pass came in handy again as we didn't have to pay an entrance fee.

In order to get to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, you have have to climb about 300 steps up a relatively narrow spiral staircase.  The Arc is about 165 feet tall so it provides excellent views.  It also sits in the middle of a huge traffic circle in which 8 or 10 streets converge so traffic is non-stop.  Because of this, you access it through an underground tunnel off of the champ Elysees.

We didn't tell Mom about the steps as she likely would have balked at going at the top.  She was like a kid the whole time asking is it much further, is it much further?  She did a great job getting to the top and was glad she made the effort.  I wanted to take a great photo of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night and the top of the Arc de Triomphe provides an excellent vantage point.  While I have a great camera (a Canon Digital SLR), I'm still a complete novice when it comes to the manual settings so I tend to rely on the automatic ones.  Fortunately for me, I found a perch next to a guy who was much more of an expert and he gave me a crash course to help me take a better picture as a lot of my shots were somewhat blurry.  This was due in part to not being able to use my tripod after toting it all the way there (the tripod police was out in full force).  I never did catch his name, but I give a big thank you to him as his advice helped me get a great picture.

The Eiffel Tower is nicely illuminated in the evening and has a sparkly light show on the hour.  We stayed through the 10:00 show, soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the City of Lights at its best.  It's hard to believe our time here is ending, but we had a great finale to a fantastic stay in Paris.