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Eiffel Tower, Paris, France | |
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The symbol of Paris is easy
to see but time-consuming to visit....
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You were never meant to see Paris's Eiffel Tower! The soaring symbol of Paris was built as a "temporary structure" to add flair to Paris' Exposition Universelle (World's Fair) of 1889 set up on the vast Champ-de-Mars. For various reasons it remained standing, damned by some and praised by others, until the point when Paris sans Tour Eiffel became unthinkable. My suggestion is to take the Métro to Trocadéro, and come down from the Palais de Chaillot to the Seine in order to get the full effect of the tower and its surroundings. Besides the fabulous views of the tower, the Champ-de-Mars park, and the Trocadéro fountains, you get a free show as the open spaces in front of the Palais de Chaillot are filled with amateur trick bicyclists, roller skaters, skateboarders, dancers, and acrobats. The Eiffel Tower has elevators/lifts in two of its pillars, and you always have a long wait in line to use one. Go as high as you like, or can afford, but the best view is, of course, from the top, where the tower's historians have re-created the office of engineer Gustave Eiffel. If you don't want to wait in line you can climb stairs to the second level, which offers fine views, but to ascend to the top you must wait for an elevator—no stairs to the top. M. Eiffel, by the way, built mostly bridges, though a notable exception was his skeletal structure to support the Statue of Liberty in New York City, designed by The famous tower named for Eiffel was actually designed by a member of his staff! Besides the fabulous view (go in late afternoon on a clear day), the Eiffel Tower has an orientation film (first level), and several restaurants and bars. Eiffel Tower (Tour
Eiffel) Métro: Trocadéro or Bir Hakeim; RER: Champ de Mars-Tour Eiffel)
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Above, top of
the Eiffel Tower.
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