Last day - final adventures...

    It's pretty late here - about 12:30 am...and I'm hoping to finish this post in sync with the final dazzling Eiffel Tower light show at 1:00. It was rainy, off and on, all day today, and we were a little unsure of what we were going to do, except that we had already gotten tickets to go to the summit of the Eiffel Tower at 5:30. Surprise - the rain stopped - for a while, and we headed out to do some souvenir looking/shopping. We actually shopped on the Champs Élysées - stopped in to be able to know we'd stopped in at Cartier's, but actually found a few things in the non-out-of-budget stores to bring home (as if we don't have enough with our memories and pictures - but most of what we got were for gifts).
     Funny thing about Parisiens - they're all bundled up with winter coats, scarves, some with hats and gloves, when it's in the low 60s, and rain makes them scurry into shops, restaurants, metro stops, and pull out and open umbrellas in even light misty rain. Maybe they think they'll melt - made of sugar (or salt!) - but it's kind of strange to see professional people acting so differently in weather that seems fine to us.
      The sun kept going in and out, and short bursts of not-too-bad showers were off and on most of the day, but we didn't get too wet. The most rain was when we were walking to the Eiffel Tower, and that wasn't even too bad - we had nylon rainjackets, and stayed dry except what wasn't covered. We got to the Eiffel Tower and there were a LOT of people there - a long, long line to purchase tickets. We were so glad to already have tickets - on the phone - we didn't even have to print them out - and we walked right into a different line, which still took 1/2 hour to get to the elevator, because of others who'd also planned ahead, as well as security. Security checks are everywhere here!
      While we were waiting inside the Tower, the rain stopped. I was questioning my choice to go to the summit, but it worked out fine (I really, really don't like heights.) It was amazing to see the landmarks in miniature from the top - and we also went to the highest point, which is not glassed in, but has wire "cage" like structure around it. We were allowed to wander around as much as we wanted, so we spent time, took some pictures, made the most of this last adventure.
        We had stopped at the second level on the way up - the tickets allow for first, second, and summit, or first and second, or first level - and they checked the tickets between the second and the top - again. We had not stopped at all on the first level, so we did that on the way down. They've recently installed some glass panels in the floor (good thing they were so dirty, because as I glanced down - I would NOT walk on them - it was dizzying for me - I can only imagine if they were clean!), and we wanted to look at the restaurants and cafeteria and gift shops (ok, I wanted to do that, and Roger's a good sport!), so we did that and then went back down to the RDC - ground floor..."rez-de-chaussez" - a decidedly European (French, at least as far as I know) way to name floors...makes the real floor 7 become floor 8. Confusing, but something I'd taught about in my classes.
        On the walk back home - no more rain - we were in time for a bakery we hadn't noticed before, right before it closed, and got pain au chocolat for our last breakfast here. Amazing. It's just about over. Goodnight, Eiffel Tower, goodnight, Paris...we really got to know you in our two weeks here. :)

Selfies are not easy when trying to get Paris in the
background from the top of the Eiffel Tower!

Last night photo from living room in apartment

           
It's 12:57 - mission accomplished - light show in 90 seconds!! Thanks for coming along for our trip!