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It was a windy, overcast day, but I arrived early to queue up before the masses of tour busses embarked on Champ de Mars. Turns out I was even late for that. While I waited in the blustery cold for nearly a half hour before they opened, I was able to listen to an incredibly useful audioguide app I downloaded earlier. I highly recommend to anyone making the trip.
The view from beneath the tower, where I waited, was stunning and far more awe inspiring that any other panoramic view of the city in my opinion. The ornate, metal structure has so many details that cant fully be appreciated from afar. I wished my dad were there with me to give me his commentary -his understanding and appreciation of how it was built. Something only a mechanical engineer can fathom. The statistics blow my mind- weighing over 10,000 tons, comprised of 2.5 million rivets, with 60 tons of paint covering its surface. It is repainted every 7 years and loses another 15 tons to erosion. Total visitors since it opened 120 years ago? 250 million. Now I feel like a number.
You may be impressed to know that I chose to climb the more than 700 stairs to the 2nd platform in order to avoid waiting the long queue for the lift. You will be disappointed to know that I did not summit the tower as planned for 2 reasons. #1 - There was no stairway option. I was not aware that they had dismantled the spiral staircase that once led up to the summit from the 2nd platform back in 1983. Oops. #2 - My fear of big crowds in small spaces prevented me from taking the only other option further - the lift. On top of that, I was pretty content with my view from the 2nd platform and ability to recognize the key landmarks on the skyline.
So now I can say I climbed (sort of) the Eiffel Tower. Its Andrew I might have to answer to someday soon when he asks that, of all the places we carted him along on during our trip to Paris, why the Eiffel Tower wasn't one of them. Had I known I was only going to climb 700 stairs instead of 1,700, I might have brought him along, carrier style of course.
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