Final Day in France

July 18^th –

It was our last day in Paris, and I still had one activity on my “to-do-in-Paris” list – go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. So that was pretty much our only plan for the day. We got to sleep in a lot later than we had been, and we ventured out of the hotel room around 11:30. One quick subway ride and a short walk later, we were at the Eiffel Tower. The line for taking the elevator up was extremely long, so we made the decision to take the stairs. Now, I first thought this meant taking the stairs all the way to the top, luckily they let you take an elevator once you make it to the second level.

Up and up we climbed, and I took the liberty of counting how many stairs we climbed. The total came to 704 steps before it was time for the elevator. That sure was a good work out! On the first floor, we got some lunch at a little cafeteria. Once our stomachs were happy again, we climbed some more, and then took the elevator to the very top. The view up there was of course incredible, and it was fun pointing out the places we’ve visited. The weather wasn’t as bad as it had been the past couple of days, so we were lucky with that. It was still a bit cloudy, but not too bad and no rain. The weather has been so weird on this trip! It wasn’t sunny and warm like I was told it would be. Too bad I didn’t really pack warm clothes. Oh well, I seemed to manage ok with what I did bring.

After climbing back down the Eiffel Tower, Will and I separated from Scott for a while to do our own shopping. I needed to get some souvenirs and gifts to bring home, still. I know… it’s so like me to put off the shopping. Once I was satisfied with my purchases, Will and I took the subway back to the hotel. It’s really convenient having a subway entrance right outside the hotel. We were able to spend some time in the hotel room, and we relaxed with a few episodes of “Friends”.

For dinner, we went the restaurant that we ate at on our second night in Paris. It’s the restaurant where they had little pig marshmallow desserts, but we didn’t get those this time. I just decided to have French onion soup because I was feeling kind of tired of meat. I think I’ll have to temporarily go vegetarian when I get home because I’ve had my fair share of meat on this trip. Well, maybe I’ll make an exception when I go to Erik’s Deli. ;)

We got back to the hotel room and before going to bed we packed up our suitcases. It was finally time to face reality and get ready for the long journey home.