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THE TOWER
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The most famous landmark of France is no doubt the Eiffel tower. We first saw it when we drove into Paris, about 10 miles away on the highway. You could also see it from our hotel downtown and pretty much all nearby areas, as shown in one of the photos taken from the Louvre.
The day we went to the tower was rather windy and chilly. But you can see lots people heading over that direction as soon as you get off the metro. Along side the road to the tower, lined up many paddlers, like any typical tourist attractions around the world, selling cheaply made souvenirs of the tower, key chains, laser cut glass displays, drawings and paintings etc. It is interesting to notice that almost sellers these are middle eastern descents, which is rather interesting, considering everything they are selling are made in China. I can't help thinking they are related, or, being controlled by somebody. Of course, this is an afterthought. At the time, we just wanted to get to the tower and get it over with. And with me snapping pictures left and right. So are the kids.
It is no wonder that the tower is huge when you are closer. The four corners or supports are rather far away, with two of them serves as entrance to the tower. One is for those who want to ride to the top. The other one is for those who want to walk to the second level, which is about 10-story high, in my estimation. I wanted to get to the top but my wife is very afraid of the height, so she wanted to do the climbing. Naturally, kids went her way, leaving me standing in the long line by myself. The line moves pretty fast, and you could get to the ticket window in about 20 minutes. After a few minutes struggle, I gave up the idea of getting to the top by myself, as I wanted to take some pictures of the kids and family. I went over there to join my wife and kids, which was already half way down to the ticket window. When I got close to her, she whispered in my ear that there was a guy selling ticket half price to the top of the tower a few minutes ago.
Asian looking, probably Chinese. Oh my! I wish I had the chance to see another new trick.
The ticket to climb up second level costs 7 euros I think and kids are half price. It's rather reasonable considering it is probably the mostly recognized symbol of tourist traps in the world. It is a great piece of engineering work, however and I have to admit that. Despite the windy conditions of the day and especially the increased intensity right under the tower, I did not feel any movements or vibrations at all! (big surprise huh?! If it does, it probably has clasped long before I got here, a hundred years ago). From a brief read from the ipad, I did learn that they had used the bottom of the tower as a wind tunnel to test aerodynamics of airplanes during the war. So they must know what they were doing. Another interesting fact, discovered by my 7-year old, is that there is a replica of the tower in Las Vegas, at exactly half the height (162m, compared to 324). I've been to Las Vegas and stayed a week there about 20 years ago but wasn't aware of it.
Despite of the age of the tower, at about 130 years old, it is in very good condition. I would assume they are doing the best they can to preserve its condition with routine maintenance. But that is mostly on minor fixes and would not affect its main structure. That, is the most impressive part. You can feel its craftsmanship and quality when you put down your first step on its stairs. Well, in my case, it was more like my 100th step, when I stopped to catch a breath, after following the kids dashing up. One can tell that it was built to last, with solid, thick iron bars and reinforced joints, as can be seen from the pictures we took. It has no enclosed units, other than restaurants between the levels, which certainly helps to reduce the impact from the typical strong wind going through. The cliche quickly jumped into my mind, "they don't build em like these no more".
We tried to count the number of steps when we climbed up, but often lost counts to new discoveries by the kids or their questions. Fortunately, we can always find the answers on the internet, especially with today's convenience of wireless everywhere. It's about 300 steps between levels, which means we climbed about 10 stories to get to level one. It has a small restaurant, restrooms, a small display room or museum if you will, and a gift shop. The perimeter is nicely fenced in and you can walk around to have a full view of the city of Paris.
Although windy, it was a beautiful day with high visibility, as you can see from the pictures. We found the places we have visited and places we haven't got around to, looking out and reading signs. Napoleon's tomb is probably the most visible one, with its shining, golden top visible from far away. Seine river runs by the foot of the tower and cannot be mistaken. It is of little surprise that most major cities are centered around rivers, for its convenience in old times in terms of both transportation and access to usable water. Thus the art of Feng Shui. Without water, there is no life, although recent discoveries have shown that might not true for non-carbon life forms.
There are many poster boards and signs around the walking path, to illustrate the history of the tower and its structures. This is where the kids found out many interesting facts that later were used in the slides to give "lecture" to the classmates. Knowing that their interests and energy would wane fast, we opted to move to the next level of the tower rather quickly, tackling another 300 steps in between. The little one began to show signs tiredness half way up on this flight, and Mom started to carry him in her arms. The second level has a much better view than the first one, believe or not, as higher altitude helps to bring out more three dimensionality of the structures and details of buildings. Wind had slowed down quite a bit at this level, not sure whether due to geometry of the ground or weather conditions. Although it was a sunny day, at times you would get a few drizzles here and there, probably due to passing clouds. In reality, you can
imagine yourself in the middle of the clouds if you so desire! I once had the experience of driving all the way up the big volcano, Maunakea on Big Island of Hawaii. It was a cereal experience to see clouds slowing moving below you, as you carefully maneuver along the edge of the cliffs.
I ran around all four sides of the walking path and took pictures of Paris, in hope to make a good panoramic. I think I got a very good set and it is just a matter of time to put them together (ha!). Of course, we had folks taking family pictures for us as well and ran into several interesting families. One came from Chongqing of China. The young couple flew directly from China to visit Paris. The husband was carrying a similar camera to mine, but with a big tripod as well. I was very impressed. Another family came from the same city as us and our houses are about 30 minutes away. Small world indeed!
There was a similar setup on the second floor and we had lunch in the restaurant. It is more of a cafe style fast food setup, understandably only for convenience. The selection is about that of a cafe. On the way down, we waited for the lift but the little one changed his mind at the last minute, likely got scared by the loud noise of the lift and steep descend of the boxcar, as we were watching it going up and down along the shaft while waiting. Oh well. More exercise for me to digest those heavy French dishes we've had past few days.
After a quick selection of few souvenirs on the way out, we decided to head over to the Arc for a quick peek, as it's not far from the tower. It is nothing but a big monument in the middle of a big roundabout, at the end of the famous shopping street, Champ Elysee. We strolled onto the Elysee and went to a store, bought small gifts for the boys and headed back to the hotel, as dusk is falling down fast.
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