We had seen the Eiffel Tower from the Seine riverboat cruise as well as the Hop-on Hop-off bus, but it wasn't dark enough to see it lit up neither time. It's unlikely we'll make it back to Paris again, so we really wanted to see it in all its dazzling splendor while we were there.
We left our hotel around 9:30 p.m. and the front desk told us a taxi would be readily available once we walked to the Quai d'Orsay [street] on the south bank of the Seine. So off we went. Unfortunately, we didn't see any available taxis so we walked the 2.4 miles until we reached the riverside park close to the Eiffel Tower.
It was beautifully lit up so it was easy to see in the nighttime sky as we got closer and closer to it.
The Eiffel Tower's golden lights come on at nightfall and stay on until 11:45 p.m. But it 'sparkles' every hour on the hour for five minutes. 20,000 lights create the spectacular view which took 25 mountain climbers 5 months to install!
When we arrived we had to wait about a half hour to watch it 'sparkle', and it was worth the wait. The still picture below doesn't do it justice, so I included a short video.
Fortunately, there were plenty of taxi's around the Eiffel Tower to transport us to our hotel and we didn't have to walk back.
We set our alarm for 7:30 a.m. the next morning and went down to the hotel dining area for our final Parisian breakfast.
The sweet lady who oversaw breakfast each morning.
After breakfast we went back to our room to gather our belongings so we'd be ready for our driver when he arrived at 9:00 a.m. to transport us to Charles de Gaulle International Airport.
Since it was a Sunday morning with lighter traffic, the ride to the airport was just a little over 1/2 hour. Our 8-hour flight home wasn't until 3:50 p.m. so we had more than enough time to check our luggage and go through a security line where we had to scan our passports and have our pictures taken.
De Gaulle airport is HUGE - much larger than Detroit Metro and it was bustling with travelers. Air France personnel spoke English and there were a lot of them circulating throughout the airport ready to assist travelers, which was great compared to fending for ourselves at Paris Gare du Nord train station.
I spotted a Laudrée booth for those who wanted to purchase French macarons.
Once we got through the first security check we rode a train that took us to our boarding gate area where there was another security check where we had to put all our belongings into large plastic containers for scanning. Then we were cleared to go to our boarding gate which was L33.
On the way to our boarding gate we passed a duty-free Laudrée store. They definitely have a dominate presence in Paris.
Once we arrived at our gate we had about a four hour wait until our flight departure time. We got something to eat and I read, so the time passed quickly until it was boarding time.
The plane was filled to capacity and we had an uneventful flight just over 8 hours long. We arrived safely back home at Detroit Metro Airport shortly after 6:00 p.m.
We went through the usual customs security check then got our luggage and our daughter and son-in-law were there waiting to pick us up. I breathed a grateful sigh of relief that our luggage made it with us throughout the entire trip.
It was a wonderful trip and we made many great memories. Despite the things I had heard and read before I left home about Paris being filled with pickpockets and that it was an unclean city, we found the city to be safe and beautiful. I loved all the little flower stands on the small side streets as well as the many street cafés. It's an enjoyable, magical place and I'm glad we went. I only wish we would have had a few more days there.
This post concludes the trip series. I hope you enjoyed traveling along with us vicariously as much as I've enjoyed documenting it for you.
