Eiffel Tower

A few days ago (When Mamau was still here – boo-hoo!) we climbed the Eiffel Tower together.  When we came to Paris two years ago, Eric and I decided not to fight the other tourists and stand in line for hours.  But the monkeys made it clear from the very beginning that they were going to the top on this trip!The line to climb the stairs to the 2nd floor and then take an elevator to the top was the shortest, so we went that route.  The monkeys had threatened to abandon us if we used this method (rather than just the elevator from the bottom)  they didn’t like the idea of waiting for hours either…

In the end, the stairs were not difficult.  While there are about 700, they are wide stairs, in an open area – and you can enjoy the view as you walk.  For some reason this makes them no comparison to the  narrow spinning chambers like the turrets of Notre Dame.  The boys actually ran up a fair number of stairs.Of course the favorite part to climb were the unauthorized bits…The views were beautiful from the 2nd floor, and the boys could appreciate seeing some spots that they recognized (the park at that they played at two years ago, the spot we sat for the fireworks, the Seine river)

They have talked a lot about climbing the tower both before and after the trip, and are glad that they did it with Mamau.

The top level also had amazing views – especially because few of the surrounding buildings are over 10 stories.  But, we didn’t stay up there for very long because it was very crowded and was quite cold.

The elevators are fun in that they have clear sides so that you can see the view as you go up or down.

Having climbed the tower, I am glad that I did it, but also glad that we did not climb when the boys were younger.  Within the last year, the boys read the Magic Tree House Series book about the tower and can appreciate the monument for it’s unique structure and historical value (as much as kids can anyway.)  They also have a unique connection to the tower because of their French Immersion school back in Washington.

Those connections helped me to deal with the crazy tourist feel of the place.  First there are the lines are crazy.  You wait in lines for each section of the tower – tickets, stairs, elevators up, an elevators down.  And the scammers and pickpockets are crawling everywhere.  So much that there are signs and videos running in all parts of the tower warning about them.  Kind of takes away from the good feelings you get from being there…