| Tuesday, June 18, 2013 -- Paris, France -- Day 3, Part 2 |

We arrived at the Eiffel Tower for a pre-scheduled trip up at 5 PM. Apparenltly just two hours earlier that afternoon, some guy was caught climbing the outside of the tower with a backpack and the tower was closed with some people evacuated while the police brought the climber down. We stopped at the second observation deck for some photos before proceeding to the top observation deck at 280 meters above ground (the tower itself is 324 meters high). By comparison, the Seattle Space Needle's observation deck is 160 meters high (the top is 184 above ground).

We certainly lucked out on the weather -- clear skies and sunshine -- but opted not to wait out an additional 3+ hours to see the sunset. We rode the elevator down to the second observation deck and then descended to the ground using the stairway -- more than 600 steps. The corrugated metal steps, worn somewhat smooth from decades of use, and hot wear exposed to the sun, did not deter a young couple that we saw climbing up barefoot!