A View from the Top of the World...
May 1st 2006 23:00
What is the first thing that springs to mind when you think about France? Have a guess. Perhaps you picture a table of beautiful French cuisine: les escargots (snails), les gâteaux (cake), or le chocolat (mmmm….chocolate). Maybe it’s a glass of famous French wine, the rolling fields in the country side or those giant old stone castles? Well, for me, it’s a special monument. The first thing I think of is “La Tour Eiffel”. Translation: the Eiffel Tower.
The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 by French engineer Gustave Alexandre Eiffel. (I can see pennies dropping around the world now…) It was actually built for the 1889 Paris World Fair (or Exposition Universelle) to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the French Revolution. (But more about that later…) In 1909, the tower was almost destroyed because the city’s artistic and literary elite hated it. In modern times, it is one of the most romantic places in the worl
There are actually three levels to the tower, which are open to the public. Observation decks are located on all three levels and according to my sources, there’s apparently a restaurant on the first level. You can walk up stairs to the first two observation decks, but unfortunately you can’t walk to the summit. You can only get to the summit via an elevator, but be prepared for a long wait. If you ask me, if you’ve travelled all the way to France (it’s a long flight from Australia), I’d be getting to the top of that tower.
The most up-to-date information on the Tower, its opening hours and prices is on www.tour-eiffel.fr Unfortunately, it’s entirely in French, which is a bit of a problem for non-French speakers. I’m sure you guys can try and prove me wrong. There’s bound to be an English translation there somewhere…
The Eiffel Tower from photo.net
The Eiffel Tower is open every day of the year, but for different times:
From 1st January to 15th June and from 3rd September to 31 December, it is open from 9:30am to 11pm.
From 16th June to 2nd September, it’s open from 9am to Midnight.
If you have any questions www.latoureiffel.fr has everything you could possibly need. It even has a whole heap of frequently asked questions. One which I thought was particularly interesting. No one is allowed to publish photos of the Eiffel Tower illuminated at night. Weird isn’t it?
Hope this helps guys. If you have any more tips, feel free to leave a comment.
See you tomorrow!!!
Melinda
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Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Handy if you get lost in Paris, though..
Comment by Melinda
Travel France
Everyone's entitled to their opinion. It's an example of 19th century architecture, which is pretty cool if that's your thing!!!