I was wowed by the Eiffel Tower

Paris for me had always been about two beautiful things- ‘Eiffel Tower and Romantic City’.

I was introduced to it for the first time by my G.K. teacher in school when she had asked the class to do a project on 7 wonders of the world. I remember we asked her if she had been to any of these places and she had proudly said Taj Mahal in India and Eiffel Tower in France. Gradually when I grew up and learnt more about the fascinating things to see around the world, I often heard about Eiffel Tower. This architectural icon has always had a global admiration and has stood the test of time.

In Sweden, when hubby said he wanted to take me to Paris, I couldn’t believe my ears. I double checked and soon realized he was serious. Of course I was jumping with joy, my happiness knew no bounds!!!! Some very beautiful things in life happen when you have never schemed them. They drop in your lap as God’s blessing. My visit to Europe, Paris and many other places is one such thing.

In Paris, there is no escape from Eiffel Tower and I was totally excited about seeing it real. Eiffel was my first tryst with something really superlative tall and one that had been known as the tallest monument till 1930. For four decades it ruled as the tallest.

Even now when I have visited the top of Kingdom Centre (100 Floor building in Riyadh) and Burj Khalifa in Dubai, my fascination for Eiffel hasn’t reduced.

As Eiffel Tower turned 125 years old this year, I am dedicating this blogpost about my date with it.

Paris has one of the world’s best rail network and connects the city end to end. There are two close metro stations to Eiffel Tower. In my 4 days stay in Paris, I dedicated two evenings to Eiffel tower. The two metro stations closest to it are Champ de Mars / Tour Eiffel on line RER C and other closest metro station is Bir-Hakeim. And then there is a 500 meter walk that separates you from the stunning iron clad lady.

The moment I caught the first glimpse of it so close, I was absolutely vowed by the elegant, majestic and viril appearance of it. Honestly, I had tears in my eyes. Under the blue sky, amidst the green trees and its branches, it appeared like an extraordinary being on Earth. All lit up, it shone in beauty. I almost ran to be near it.

Eiffel it was and I was standing there so close to it. I pinched myself to be sure it was happening in real and it wasn’t a dream. Tears just flowed… I remember it all even today!!!

The magnificent Eiffel Tower

When I saw the whole look of it standing right in front of it, I felt like an ant. I couldn’t believe there could be something so huge and tall. For me it was ‘Love’

It felt so powerful standing below it. Hubby and I admired its length and strength. We could see with our eye wide open that tonnes of iron had gone into its making and how intricately it had all been put together. The iron work was beautiful absolutely. I am sure anyone who sees it for the first time is for sure to be struck in awe.

I am told its riveted with 18,000 iron pieces. As an engineer, I salute to its designer Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel for idea-ting and creating the Parisian icon.

The Iron Lady

On the first day we did not have ample time to go to the top. Ofcourse I was very much interested in going to the top of it and experience the look from above and thus we decided we would come another day again. To me Eiffel Tower was like a ladder to the sky. I wanted to see how things looked from the height. It was definitely going to be different from the sight that we get from the inside of the aero-plane.

Champ-de-Mars, the magnificent Parisian park

The sunset was already done with but we explored the Champ-de-Mars, the magnificent Parisian park which is spread right next to the tower. There were families with children picnicking around, photgraphers playing with their lenses, couples strolling in love and people just watching the Eiffel in awe.

The long queue tells you the Tourist Fascination for the architectural icon

On the first day there was a big queue which cancelled our chance to be at the top. However, next day we returned a little early and well prepared to take our flight ( super fast lifts ) to the top. There is an option for stairs (704 steps) too till the First Level but we opted for lifts. Eiffel stands at 301 meter but one can go to the top 276 m. For this one needs to change lifts at the 2nd floor.

p class=”st_green_lvl1″>From the top, whole Paris comes live. One can see it all, river Siene flowing in proximity and the buildings that are about Paris, the inherent beauty of the city etc. The panoramic view is spirit lifting. Also, I quite liked Gustave Eiffel’s office at the top. For many years he lived there at the top with his daughter.

The picture and moment to savor for always.

Look at me brimming with happiness while getting clicked below the Eiffel. It was a dream to be there and here was the moment when I had lived it.

Thanks to the man below who makes it all possible for me. We visited the Eiffel on two days but next day when we went on top of it our camera’s battery had drained off. We had returned from the Louvre Museum and had already clicked some 300 pics. Thank God we had our day one pictures to savor forever.

Another thing Hubby and I realized later that we did not have a single pic in the same frame. Somehow we had been so enamored by the beautiful Eiffel Tower that we forget to go for the usual picture poses. Maybe that gives a reason to go there again someday…. But we did not forget to live our super romantic kiss down under the irreplaceable, unique and one of its kinds architectural feat!!!!

Hubby enjoying his moment below the Iron lady.