Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel) Eiffel Tower – the highest point of Paris. Height: 1,050ft (320m) Weight: 22,046,224lb (10 000ton) Steps from ground till top: 1652 Rivets: 2.5 million

On our third day in Paris we decided to go to The Eiffel Tower.

There are three levels, available for visiting. Sure, we bought tickets to the last (third) one. Each level has two floors. There are several elevators in the Tower (they are two-floor as well). One elevator delivers you from the ground to the first and second levels. If you want to go higher – you need to take another elevator, going from the second to the third level. This elevator almost entirely made of glass. It moves quite fast (and very high!) and, standing close to the wall which is a window, you can observe all the city (if you are not afraid of heights).

In the picture below to the right you can see the view from the third level. Skyscrapers in the background belong to the financial district, called La Defénse. They are separated form the city by Bois de Boulogne (Boulogne Forest).

In front of the Tower there is an observation platform on the roof of Palace de Chaillot (see enlarged picture below to the left). It was discovered lately that the roof cannot support the weight of the people on it, and now there is only narrow passage through it, while work to repair it is in progress.

We came to the Tower at about 7p.m. and stayed there untill 10p.m.. It is nice that time in the Tower is not limited – you can stay there as long as you want (but not later then 11p.m.). It was rather windy that day, but at the top of the Tower wind was like a real storm! Fortunately, one floor of the third level is glassed in, so it is possible to observe the city in comfort. There is a room, wich architect Goustav Eiffel reserved for himself at this level. It is possible to see through the window wax figures of Eiffel and Edison talking to each other (you can not enter the room – just look through the window).

We spent most of our time on the second level, waiting for the darkness and watching changes of the city while the night was coming.

There are three big islands on The River Seine. At the end of one of them there is A Statue of Liberty (actually it is not an island – it is like a street in the middle of The Seine: straight, long, narrow and has only one alley along it – Alle des Cygnes). This statue is a diminished copy of the Statue of Liberty (Statue de la Liberté) in the United States and it looks in a Westerly direction – toward New York. Americans presented two copies of this statue to the French people. The other one stands in Luxemburg Garden (Jardin du Luxembourg) and it is human height.

On our last day we took a boat trip on The Seine. During the trip this picture (to the left) was taken (it is a real picture). The weather that day was rainy, windy, cloudy and cold, and it was very good that we had black-and-white film in our camera (the same picture in color would also be gray).

But let's return to the Tower. When it had become completely dark, we left the Tower and went back to the hotel. We passed the bridge Pont d'Iéna over The Seine and one of the most beautiful views of Paris appeared to our eyes. The Eiffel Tower in amber light. Our impression was enhanced by the rotating projectors at the top of the Tower (like in a lighthouse).

There are two boat-stations with lots of floating restaurants near the Tower. Each floating restaurant is equipped with a row of projectors on board – to provide a better view of the building at the embankment during the night trips.

More Pictures

Tour Bus	Alexander Gutov	At the roof of Palais de Chaillot

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