Paris isn't for lovers...the Eiffel Tower is!!!

People say that Paris is for lovers. They say that, but I don't agree. I didn't see couples strolling hand in hand along the Seine. No one was making out in the shadowed corners of the Louvre. Maybe Paris in November isn't for lovers...maybe. In actual fact, the lover's magnet of Paris is the Eiffel Tower and they come out in droves be it rain or shine, spring or winter. It was fascinating and repulsive all at the same time.
While certainly not Paris' oldest or most grand tourist stop, La Tour Eiffel is definitely the city's most recognizable symbol and every time we caught sight of that famous spire we gawked and snapped a picture. (Especially Sandra ;) There is not a building in remotely close proximity that even begins to rival the tower in height and for that reason it is even more striking in its appearance. Nothing, however, can prepare you for it's sheer size, or for the number of Jamaicans hawking little metal replicas attached to large iron rings. Don't look those guys in the eye...I'm serious!! They'll follow you everywhere if you do! It's the attack of the persistent and slightly creepy vendors. Thankfully, there seems to be a type of anti-vendor force field that keeps them a certain distance from the tower. By the time you see this...you are in a vendor-free zone.

La Tour Eiffel was built between 1887 to 1889 by Gustave Eiffel and was designed as the archway into the 1889 World's Fair. It was originally intended to stand for 20 years and then be torn down, which pleased all the Tower-hating Parisians. It's funny to think that something so iconic was so universally lambasted by the French...they absolutely despised it. One funny story involves Guy de Moupassant, a French author considered to be the father of the modern short story. He claimed to hate the Eiffel Tower and yet he ate at one of its restaurants every day. When asked why he did so, Moupassant declared that it was the only place in Paris where he couldn't see the iron lattice eye-sore. My how opinions change! The tower is now the most visited paid monument in the world and a symbol for France.

We got into one of several lines for tickets and met our first pair of lovers: a Brazilian girl and a Parisian boy. My dad started talking with them, cuz he's never met a stranger, and then she and Jaime spoke to each other in Portuguese. They were a very charming couple, but I could tell that our efforts to be polite were cutting into their face time...every time the conversation took a break they started kissing. I turned my attention to the massive legs of the tower and away from all the spit swaping that was occuring around me. Luckily, the tower is quite the attention grabber. It is immense. Maybe it's just me, but the Eiffel Tower always seemed like a fairy spire or something, you know...dainty. No sir it is not. The base is 410 feet across (I could tell you that it is 125 meters, but that means nothing to me) and the first level is 187 feet off the ground. We actually turned up our noses at the first level and went straight to the second, which is a fear inducing 377 feet in the air. The 360 degree view is impressive.

After admiring the view we got into yet another snaking line so that we could take the lift to the top. This meant that we kept meeting the same people over and over again, and the image of all those lovers is burned into my brain. There was the French/Brazilian duo, an American couple, a handsome gay pair that were velcroed together (one of them kept winking at me), and many, many others all holding hands and gazing at each other with googly eyes and hugging and kissing. It was truly a sight to behold.

The second line for the lift to the top was definitely the longest and the weather turned from bright and blue to cloudy and cold. At a height of 377 feet, the wind has a lot more bite to it as well. We wrapped up tighter in our coats but I kept pulling my hands out of my pockets to snap more pictures. In the process I knocked loose my ticket for the lift and was going to have to step out of line when my father gallantly offered his. Of course, this generosity served two purposes because Dad's fear of heights is much greater than my own and, having already been to the top while serving his mission in Paris, he was happy to stay on the second level. We finally made it into one of the lifts and I was left to contemplate my sanity as we rocketed to the top...905 feet from the ground. If the observation deck had been outside, I probably would have fainted, but it was all enclosed in wonderful plexiglass and warm to boot. I walked around and admired the city, but was taunted by the final climb...a set of stairs that led up and out into the open air. I gathered my courage and then went up, out and all the way around, hugging the wall the entire way. I don't have a single picture from my expedition because I would have had to let go of the wall. These pictures come courtesy of Sandra...who isn't a chicken.

nice pics Sandra!

We spent quite a bit of time in the Eiffel Tower gift shop, the one place I didn't mind the outrageous tourist prices...I mean, come on, it's the Eiffel Tower. I bought little replicas of the tower for my kiddos and by the time we had descended to the bottom of the tower, it was dark. Minutes after arriving at ground level, the special lights display that had been engineered for the 120th birthday of La Tour Eiffel came on. They were amazing!

courtesy of Sandra...again!

Then, to commemorate our visit, Sandra laid down on the ground and took this picture of all of us...
After once again braving the hordes of souvenir sellers, we headed out into the Paris night, bound for the exquisite Louvre. I snapped one last pic on our way to the metro. Au revoir Tour Eiffel!
La Tour Eiffel Facts:

Nickname: The Iron Lady
Height: 1062+ feet
Weight: 10,100 tons
Number of Metal Pieces: 18,038
Number of Rivets: 2,500,000
Number of bulbs for the tower: 20,000

The tower is painted every seven years and 60 tons of paint is required to do the job. The tower is currently painted bronze: dark at the bottom and lighter toward the top. The tower was originally reddish-brown and was also ocher-yellow.

The Eiffel Tower was the tallest building in the world from 1889 to 1930, when the Chrysler Building was completed in New York City.

Though huge, the Eiffel Tower actually has a very low density. It weighs less than a cylinder of air occupying the same space.