ATrip to Le Sommet

We planned to leave early today to get to the Eiffel Tower before the lines got too long. The concierge told us he thought the Eiffel Tower was on strike, but they opened yesterday and were open again today. We arrived 30 minutes before opening and were far, far back in line. Once they opened, the line moved quickly and we made it to the ticket booth in about 1 hour. We then took the elevators to the 2nd level, and waited in another long line to take the final elevator to the third level, Le Sommet. There we saw Gustav Eiffel's apartment where he entertained prominent visitors such as Thomas Edison, and had an incredible view of the City, including the smaller sister to our Statue of Liberty.

Gustav Eiffel won a contest in 1886 to design an iron structure for the 1889 Universal Exhibition, it was built in just over 2 years, and was originally known as the Dame de Fer, or "Iron Lady". Gustav Eiffel was passionate about science and had the names of 72 prominent scientists engraved in the tower. The tower is as tall as a 120 story building, and has 7 million visitors each year. We think maybe 6.5 milllion of them were there today. We walked down from the 2nd level, the same as a 43 story building.

The tower was planned to stand for 20 years, but Gustav Eiffel opened it to scientific studies, and experiments, and eventually it was used for radio broadcasts which made it too important to tear down. It is still used today as an observation station for weather and air quality.

Our trip up and down the tower took several hours, after that we explored the city more. We went to 2 toy stores, several chocolate shops and a perfume store. We also took a pony ride in the park and rented a small wooden sailboat which Parisian kids push around a pond with a stick. The parks and playgrounds are different than home but they are alot of fun and have some unique equipment.

We're settled in for the night now and are anxiously awaiting for the bells of Paris to ring out loud tomorrow morning, after they return from Rome with lots of chocolate !

Happy Easter