When you get to the top of the Eiffel Tower (by elevator — 65FF (a FF was, at the time, about 20 cents) — well worth it — don't even think of walking up) you tend to go a little crazy if you have a camera.  This is one of several dozen shots I took at the top.  Remember [a139] the Eiffel Tower with all the lights?  That picture was taken from the top of the Arc de Triomphe; this is the reverse of that...

A colleague saw this picture and remarked that 30 years prior all these buildings were black with decades of accumulated grime.  A great deal of work, time, and money has obviously been spent on sprucing up the architecture.  While Paris, like all big cities, will sometimes appear disappointingly messy, the city as a whole remains a marvel, and the people are justifiably proud of it.