The Eiffel Tower - Paris - TravBuddy

Most tourists visit the Eiffel Tower in daylight. That's reason enough to delay your climb until the late evening, when smaller crowds and shorter lines make an ascent more pleasant. But an even better reason is to enjoy the tower's nighttime ambience. There is something magical about visiting the Eiffel Tower at night. Riding up the glass elevator, looking out over the streets of Paris, you'll see why it is known as the "City of Light." At street level, seeing the spotlight on the top of the Tower zoom across the Paris skyline, and the reflection of the Tower in the Seine are sights not to be missed.

After dark, the entire tower is cloaked in the warm glow of 336 light projectors and 20,000 sparkling strobe lights. And from the tower's observation decks, you can enjoy cool evening breezes as you view floodlit bridges, churches, and other landmarks in the glittering Parisian lightscape.

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Tossing yourself off the Eiffel Tower is great and you may hit a frog in the eye if your aim is true, use the force.

A must have seen for every visitor of paris. It's cheap and nevertheless making fun. Just try it youselves!

This is one of the things that you just have to do, and some times again and again. I had been there before a couple of times but I still like to go up to the top. This time my girlfriend and I had a visit from Estonia, her sister. She was actually visiting us in Brussels for a short weekend but when she heard that we could drive to Paris she was very happy. One of the things that we had to do was enter the eiffel tower again.

Compared to the other times I had been up there, we arrived pretty late. This ment that we were in a long line the most of the day. The view over Paris from this point is amazing. One of the best things here are the different types of people that you meet - and most of the people are in a jolly mood. Yes you have the ones that feel forced to enter, like my girlfriend this time and the mothers with their kids, but most of the people love to do it. And when you are up there why not enjoy.

The Eiffel Tower has become one of the many symbols of Paris and is one of the most recognizable structures in the world due to it’s unique architectural design. The tower is the tallest structure in Paris, which wasn’t always a great thing. When it was completed in 1889 many locals considered it was an eye sore and wanted it torn down. Novelist Guy de Maupassant claimed to hate the tower yet ate at it’s restaurant on a daily basis. When he was asked why, he said it was because it was the only place in Paris where he didn’t have to look at the tower.
The structure weighs 7,300 tons but despite this the tower still sways slightly in the wind. It was originally built as the entranceway to the World’s Fair marking the 100 year anniversary of the French Revolution. Eiffel, the architect, originally intended on building the structure in Canada for the 1888 World’s Fair, but they rejected it. Silly Canadians! Construction of the tower was very risky. Three hundred workers jointed together 18,038 pieces of iron on an open frame without any floors to break their fall. Eiffel took great precautions when it came to the safety of his builders and as a result only one man died during it’s construction.
Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for twenty years meaning it would have to be demolished in 1909. The city officials decided that it could be used as a communication tower and agreed to allow it to stay in tact. I bet today they are glad they did.
The first and second levels are accessible by both stairs and lifts. There is a ticket booth at the base of the tower that sells tickets to use the stairs. The third level summit is only accessible by a lift. Expect to wait in line if you plan on using the lift to get to the top. Although it’s a lot of stairs, I recommend taking them if you are capable. It has proven to be faster, in my past experiences and it’s rewarding when you get to the top. Of course, if you’re a lazy bum you can wait in line for the elevator J.
From the top of the tower you can see amazing panoramic views of the city of lights. It is exceptionally spectacular at night. From the summit you can see many of the cities famed buildings lit to display all of their glory.
On the way down you can stop by gift shops featuring Eiffel Tower souvenirs. After exiting the tower I was offered several different Eiffel key chains for only one euro, which was cheaper than they were sold for in the shops. You might want to consider taking advantage of this.
As the bells of Notre Dame Cathedral chime in the arrival of a new hour, the Eiffel Tower’s evening lights switch from a solid white to a sparkling white. The shimmery lights make for an excellent picture and may be worth spending a little extra time in the area in order to catch a picture or video of it.

There are a total of three "floors" you can visit. The first two are accessible by stairs but the last at the very top requires and elevator ride. We stood in a line at the bottom just to pay to go up the stairs! I can’t imagine waiting in the line for the elevator if you are reasonable fit and have some time. After too many stairs to count (though they put the number right on the stair actually) we made it to the first level. Heading on up to the second level wasnt nearly as bad and here you can find a great view and a slew of things like a restaurant and a post office which has it's own special Eiffel Tower stamp to place on your mail. From this level you can board the elevator to the top and get to see a fantastic view of Paris. In the winter it was pretty chilly up here to take a jacket!