Paris - Eiffel Tower

_{I bet no-one's ever taken this picture before...}

So, the Eiffel Tower, Paris's largest phallic structure (and there are many, is there something we should know about French architects?), obviously had to be visited. We didn't get there until our last night in Paris, already rather footsore from having walked about the city for three days straight, but it really was worth saving till last.

That picture above is taken from the Trocadero, which as far as I can tell was originally built as a palace of some sorts, but now serves only to be stood upon whilst people take touristy photos. There are also lots of dodgy French folk selling what they claimed were Eiffel Towers, but I was too wily to be tricked by perspective (small...far away, do you get it now Dougal?), and didn't shell out a Euro for what was clearly an inferior structure. There was also one rather optimistic enterpreneur selling ice cold beer...at 11pm, on the steps of the Trocadero. Surely no-one wants ice cold beer then? Surely.

Despite the fact that the tower was:
a) Built by the French
b) Built by the French
c) Soaking wet
Lucie forced me to climb the stairs, to avoid being branded a wuss, and thus we did so, neatly avoiding a lift cabin stuffed with overweight Americans discussing where Eiffel-land was. I wish, I wish I'd taken a photo of the screen advertising prices at the bottom of the tower, but I didn't, and I can't find the picture online. As such, you'll just have to believe me when I say that the 'stairs' option was illustrated by a very happy man apparently sprinting to the top. Hm, it's really not as funny without that picture, so just laugh now, as though it were, and we'll move on.

There's not really a lot else to say, lots of nice views of Paris, I didn't fall off, the usual. On those two subjects however, there were a couple of amusing things on the tower. Firstly, on the first floor 'stage' of the tower, where you can mill about and look at Paris, there were bizarrely some signs pointing in seemingly arbitrary directions that said 'scenic viewpoint'. Now, I'm standing 60 metres above ground, on a wire-frame structure, with an open balcony at every age, in the centre of Paris. Do they really need to direct me to a particular viewpoint? Secondly, I was very amused by the 'emergency exit' stairwells. Surely, in an emergency, you're pretty screwed regardless.


_{The Eiffel Tower is used as a lighthouse at night, to keep French drivers from mowing down too many tourists.}

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Part of the Paris series of posts.