My Nemesis - La Tour Eiffel
Most tourists in Paris dream of seeing the city from its iconic symbol - La Tour Eiffel, at one time the tallest structure in the world. I went there with a complete dread of it! Yes, my name is Masha, and I am totally and completely afraid of heights. I also have a child and she is not afraid at all. And this child specifically requested that we go to see the Eiffel Tower on our world tour.
Hence, on a lovely day exactly 2 months from when we would be in Paris, I opened my browser to the Eiffel Tower website. At exactly 3pm pacific time (aka midnight in Paris), as the website refreshed with the next day’s tickets, I tried to buy us the lift tickets to the very top… or at least 2nd floor. Now, I am well trained in rapid-fire electronic ticket sales. Burning Man, French Laundry and Theater You ticket releases have succumbed to my quick fingers before. But, the bots of Eiffel Tower tour guides would have none of it! All the tickets were sold out within 1 minute on all three days I tried. So, I had to do what every parent whose child has ever requested a highly-in-demand gift for a holiday (or Taylor Swift Era Tour tickets) has had to do - I threw some💰at the problem.
Five minutes and some Expedia spending later, Alya and I were the proud ticket holders of a guided tour to the very tippy top of the Eiffel Tower experience. We arrived to the meeting spot as requested, 30 minutes before the entry time, and endured some semi-funny and slightly informative time stretching by our guide. (See Fun Facts at the end of the post)
And THEN - exactly at noon, we were in! As in, past the very first ticket check line. Then, we were IN…the first security line. A few steps and some tantalizing pictures later (see the very long-legged version of us above), we finally ARRIVED… at the next line, to wait for the next ticket check. We waited there for about 30 min more… pondering how very like DisneyLand these lines really felt, and surreptitiously checking the foundation for sturdiness. (Did you know it expands/shrinks by 6 inches depending on whether it’s hot or cold?)
And then, we were THROUGH… to the next security check. This was it we thought…surely, we are now really done! Alas, the lift line was next. We made good use of our waiting time by observing how the giant hydraulic cylinder (the huge yellow circular wall of it on the right) moves up and down to activate the lift (wall of it on the left), and examining the little sculpture of what a lift operator’s job used to be like.
Imagine hanging outside of the lift and riding up and down the tallest structure in the world.
Finally! We made it into the small lift… and the ascent began. Alya was over the moon! This little yellow lift took us all the way to the… 2nd floor. This is where you must get out. We enjoyed the exposed open-air heights of this “1/4 of the way to the top” rest point. Alya bravely looked around the city, and I cowered like a little baby at the inner walls trying to figure out if I am brave enough to go ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP.
After some very kind and emotionally intelligent coaxing and very effective reverse psychology administered by my child, I agreed to enter the last line of the journey. The line for the actual elevator to the top. Breathing deeply and calmly (and not at all hyperventilating😳), we stepped into the little elevator car and zoomed up. To my relief, the top floor was way less scary than the 2nd floor, if you stay inside its covered portion.
The views were beautiful! And being up in the sky with Paris at a birds-eye view was majestic. We walked around and observed the 360 degree views, trying to figure out where Misha was walking this very minute below us. My fear of heights was conquered (for a few minutes) and I was really glad we were brave enough to go to the very top! Next: A well earned lunch!!!
P.S. Some Fun Facts About The Eiffel Tower:
Built by the Engineer Eiffel for the Paris World Fair in 1889, the tower was the tallest structure on Earth at 312 meters high until 1931, when the Empire State Building in New York topped it by 70 meters.
Eiffel had an apartment and office at the top of the tower, and restaurants, a printing press for journalists and lots of other fun stuff on the 1st and 2nd floors.
There are no flags allowed at the Eiffel Tower. Yes, they check for it. The story stems from WWII when Hitler arrived in Paris and declared he would put the Nazi flag and metal swastika at the top. The lift operators quickly cut all the elevator cables to prevent this (and other nonsense), because the Tower belonged to no one but Paris (and actually, also Eiffel thanks to some very clever royalties)*. Hitler sent up some soldiers with a flag to the top anyway, sadly. The tower has some other really cool war-related stories which we found at https://www.toureiffel.paris/en/news/history-and-culture, https://travel.earth/unusual-facts-about-eiffel-tower-in-paris-you-need-to-know/ , and https://www.contexttravel.com/blog/articles/eiffel-tower-facts
*A marvel of business sense, Eiffel funded 82% of the Tower construction himself in exchange for 20 yrs of ticket sales profits from it. He made his money back in 6 months.