The Eiffel Tower

My 1st view of the Eiffel Tower, on Friday, March 24th.

A bit overcast and foggy, but a great sight to walk towards!

A truly remarkable sight – this tower stands at 1,000 feet tall and has 3 viewing platforms at 200, 400, and 900 ft. Sight-seers have the option of hoofing it up to the first or second platforms if they choose, but must take a life (elevator) to get from the second to the third. Micah and I had really hoped (crazy, I know) to hike the thing to the second level, but due to unforeseen circumstances, we didn’t get to!

(The road that runs directly below the Eiffel Tower is named after its designer - Gustave Eiffel.)

Basically, we had planned to get a lay of the city and walk to various sites and museums on Friday, and then we were saving Saturday to tour the Louvre in the morning and the Eiffel Tower in the afternoon. However, when Saturday afternoon came around, the weather was dreadful. Our train wasn’t leaving until 1:00 on Sunday, so we decided that we’d hold out hopes for better weather the next morning, and just plan to get their straight away so that we’d have time to enjoy the sight, and still make it back to our hotel by checkout and to the train station on time.

(Photo taken from le parc du Champ de Mars (the park) looking towards Trocodero Square.)

In the effort to save time, we purchased lift tickets all the way to the top of the tower, and up went. I have to admit, getting to the second level wasn’t too bad, but being crammed in a tiny, mostly glass elevator, going up quite fast, and seeing the ground get further and further away from me made my stomach tingle… but before I knew it we were there – 900 feet in the air, looking down on Paris and all the sights we’d seen over the last 2 days. Incredible.

(From the 400 ft. platform... notice the rain clouds haven't burned off yet!)

Also from the 400 ft. platform - le parc du Champ de Mars.

From the 900 ft. level... notice the sun creeping out over the Arc de Triomph!

Again, looking towards Champ de Mars... at the 900 ft. level!

Looking towards our hotel, the Seine River, and of course the football pitch (field) down below, where a match was being played!

There were two small levels at the 900 ft. platform. The first is completely enclosed, protecting us from the elements, and has various facts and tools to help sight-seers get their bearings once they are at the top. One of the neat things was the distances to various cities around the room… we were only 9,105 km (5,654 miles) from Los Angeles! (That was the closest city to the northwest.)

The upper section of the 900 ft. platform is exposed to the elements, but still enclosed by this wire-cage sort of thing. I guess they don't want us falling out...

Boys will be boys... here is Micah - spitting from 900 feet in the air. Someone below might just think it was one big raindrop... GROSS!

In America people generally have to pay to use these cool telescopes, but in Paris, a person can use them for free! (Finally, something is free! Ha!) Honestly though, the metal was SO cold that I only looked through it once. From then on, I perferred to use the telephoto lens on my camera to see the buildings below!

I'm really glad that Micah and I waited to go up the tower till Sunday. Not only was the weather better, but it also gave us a further appreciation for the height and size of the buildings we'd seen the previous two days, and a great appreciation of the architecture of the tower itself!

Here Micah and I are standing on the Trocodero side of the Eiffel Tower. It was a bit wet and really started to pour while we were trying to snap a few photos...

So wet in fact, I decided to put my "rain hat" on!

The two photos below were taken on Sunday AFTER we went up the tower... we finally saw blue sky for the first time all weekend!! It looked so wonderful! Here Micah is trying to "push" over the Eiffel Tower... if he's not carful the guards are going to come arrest him!

Seeing the tower at night was quite a sight as well. Hopefully some day I'll see it on a clear night with the stars sparkling behind it, instead of the fog trying to hide it! Nonetheless, it was an unforgetable experience!