See Paris from the Top of the Eiffel Tower
Excerpt from the book On a Tall Budget and Short Attention Span from the Teresa the Traveler Series.
The Real Eiffel Tower
The sheer size of the Eiffel Tower and the amount of metal that went into creating it boggles my mind. Unfortunately my mind was even more boggled by all the pushy salesmen determined to sell me a miniature Eiffel Tower. Erected for the 1889 Universal Exhibition and Centennial of the French Revolution, the tower took 2 years, 2 months and 5 days, 300 steel workers, 2,500,000 rivets and 18,038 pieces of steel to complete. Amazingly only one worker died during construction. Including the television antenna on top, the tower is an astounding 1052 feet in height. In fact, it had the honor of being the tallest building in the world between 1889 and 1930 until it was surpassed by New York’s Chrysler Building.
The sheer size of the Eiffel Tower and the amount of metal that went into creating it boggles my mind. Unfortunately my mind was even more boggled by all the pushy salesmen determined to sell me a miniature Eiffel Tower. Erected for the 1889 Universal Exhibition and Centennial of the French Revolution, the tower took 2 years, 2 months and 5 days, 300 steel workers, 2,500,000 rivets and 18,038 pieces of steel to complete. Amazingly only one worker died during construction. Including the television antenna on top, the tower is an astounding 1052 feet in height. In fact, it had the honor of being the tallest building in the world between 1889 and 1930 until it was surpassed by New York’s Chrysler Building.
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Named after its designer, Gustave Eiffel, who originally tried to build it in Barcelona, Spain during the 1888 exhibition, it was once considered an eyesore. Novelist Guy de Maupassant hated the tower so much he ate lunch in its restaurant everyday claiming it was the only place in Paris where you couldn’t see the tower. There was even a plan to have it removed after its 20-year permit expired.
Opinions towards the tower changed after the First Battle of the Marne in WWI. Six hundred taxicabs picked up six thousand French reservist troops in front of the tower to transport them to the front lines. They won the battle and the tower became a symbol of their victory etching its way into the hearts of the French. No doubt their first order of business while reclaiming their city was to remove the German flag hoisted on the tower. Today, with its 52 floodlight and 20,000 flashing lights, the symbol of France keeps people in the light bulb businesses permanently employed. The Tower has three observation decks. The first two, at 57 meters and 115 meters, can be reached by steps while the third, at 276 meters, requires a trip up the elevator. My new friend was not willing to pay the elevator fee so she continued on her way while I waited 45-minutes in the ticket line and another twenty minutes in the elevator line-up before I was finally crammed into a cart with around thirty other people. The elevator took us to the second observation deck where I spent another chilly hour in yet another line-up before getting crammed onto the last elevator that transported me to a glass-covered observation deck. I thought I had reached the top when I noticed a staircase leading to the highest observation deck. I climbed the stairs and walked onto the platform and into a cold wind. Now I was on the top observation deck. The deck was packed wall to wall with people making to task of finding a good viewing spot harder than finding a parking spot in downtown New York City. When a man finally left his post I slid in to take a breath-taking look at the city. While admiring the city lights and wishing my jacket was warmer, I realized that the last thing on Earth I wanted my future husband to do was take me for a stroll down the Champs-Elysees and propose to me on the top of this freezing cold overcrowded tower. Unless he happens to be a wealthy Arab prince who can afford to rent the entire Eiffel Tower, I would prefer a romantic sunset stroll along a waterfront promenade followed by a proposal on a quiet beach. I got back onto the elevator and made my way down before frostbite set in, then navigated by way through the countless miniature Eiffel Tower salesmen until I reached the safety of the nearest Metro stations. Day one down!
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