Wednesday, November 16, 2016 (Hotel Peyris Opera, Paris, France)

Well this is it! Not only our last day in Paris...but also the end to an awe-inspiring and incredible four week trip! We fly home to Vancouver, BC tomorrow.

We started off today with a couple of pictures looking out our french-door windows...before heading down to the dining room for the buffet breakfast.

Then we headed off to catch the bus(s) that would eventually get us to the stop closest to the spot where we wanted to catch the Hop-On, Hop-Off Boat. As we walked along the streets, we have been amazed at how close the cars park to each other...try getting in/out of that spot! We watched a guy the other day playing bumper cars either trying to get in or out of his spot.

Once we made it to our bus stop we had a little time to spare, so we wandered through this indoor shopping area...

Lots of beautiful Christmas displays...

Unlike in North America where our traffic lights are on the opposite side of the intersection so you can see them from your stop line, in France they mount them at your stop line so you can't see it. So they have a mini traffic light mounted lower on the post so you can see it.  We don't get it!

 We made it to our tour boat a few minutes before it arrived...

 And we're off...

Police divers...

Notre Dame...

 Not too terribly busy on the boat this time of year...

Lots of barges on the Seine today...

National Museum of History...

Institute of France...

Police boat...

 That's Musee D'Orsay over there...where we got on the boat...

Asemblee Nationale...

The Pont Alexandre III is a deck arch bridge that spans the Seine in Paris. It connects the Champs-Élysées quarter with those of the Invalides and Eiffel Tower. The bridge is widely regarded as the most ornate, extravagant bridge in the city.

Golden domes on a Mosque...

The boat passes the Eiffel Tower, and goes around Île aux Cygnes, a small artificial island on the river, and returns to the Eiffel Tower...where we got off.

Île aux Cygnes...The uninhabited island is 850 metres (2,789 ft) long and 11 metres (36 ft) at its widest point, making it the third-largest island in Paris. A tree-lined walkway, named L'Allée des Cygnes (Path of Swans), runs the length of the island. Since 2012, there has been a public workout space with bicycles and a climbing wall underneath the Pont de Grenelle, close to a Statue of Liberty replica.

Once we got off the boat, we made our way to the entrance to the Eiffel Tower. Due to its historical nature, its layout and the very large numbers of visitors, they take security very seriously, having two security screening points to go through...one as your enter the grounds and one after purchasing tickets, before getting on the elevator. These are full, airport type screenings.

It was fairly busy there today. After standing in line for tickets...in line to go through security...and then in line to get on the elevator, we were on our way up.

The views were incredible...and we weren't even at the very top. You take the elevator up to the first two floors and if you want to go up to the very top, you have to purchase another ticket and take another elevator. There was a 40 minute wait to just buy tickets, so we decided against it...we just didn't have enough time to wait around for that. Not being a huge fan of heights...I was quite happy with this. As far as I was concerned, the view from here was just fine!

In the distance beyond the lawns Le Mur Pour La Paix (The Wall For Peace) is a wall in the spirit of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem

Jardins du Trocadéro (Gardens of the Trocadero) is an open space in Paris, located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, bounded to the northwest by the wings of the Palais de Chaillot and to the southeast by the Seine and the Pont d'Iéna, with the Eiffel Tower on the opposite bank of the Seine.

Palais de Chaillot in the foreground and the very modern downtown Paris in the distance...

Barely visible in the distance on top of a hill is a Roman Catholic Church...

....the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris...

Eglise Du Dome and the Army Museum...

 And a selfie from the Eiffel Tower!

We warmed up with a cup of coffee and then got in line to go back down. This is looking up along the cable car track...

 One last picture...under the tower...

Instead of hopping on the boat, we decided to grab the bus to go back. We were in luck, there happened to be one waiting at the stop!

Grand Palais des Champs-Elysees in the distance...

 The statue of Winston Churchill in Paris...Situated within the grounds of the Petit Palais, you will find a bronze statue of Sir Winston Churchill, who was the Prime Minister that led Britain during World War II and this depicts him on his victory march down the Champs Elysees in Paris.

We got off the bus at the stop closest to the Champs Elysees so we could have a closer look at the Christmas Market...

Look at all that cheese!

Kids enjoying the slide...

The market is on both sides of the street...

A great variety of foods in this area...

After we were finished at the Christmas Market, we decided to walk back. On the way, we ended up stopping at a restaurant that was actually not far from our hotel. It was called Le Comete and the food and service was excellent (I had awesome French onion soup). As it was after 3:00 by this time, it was a late lunch, early dinner.

After relaxing in our room for awhile, we still wanted to go out for our last night in Paris...so we went back to our favourite little bar down the road...cheers to a fabulous trip of a lifetime! (Two locations which were on Steve's "bucket list.") However, we have been going non-stop with daily travel or touring for 4 weeks and are so looking forward to getting home.,,as we are pooped out. Tomorrows flight will be our 9th!