In a lifetime, a person will probably see photos, drawings, paintings, and video footage of the Eiffel Tower hundreds if not thousands of times. So I thought I was pretty familiar with the Eiffel Tower until I actually saw the 8,000 tons of iron. You see, all the different view points- the Montparnasse, the Shard, the Taipei 101 Tower, the Roppongi Hills Observation Deck in Tokyo, the 63 building in Seoul, the Empire State building -all have a solid base when it comes to the construction of the building. Even the Space Needle in Seattle has a round building at the base of its legs so you can’t actually stand beneath it and look up at its framework. I know it doesn’t come across that well on-screen, but try to imagine this huge metal structure looming over you. I mean this tower is massive. Any three-dimensional replica or even images of the Eiffel Tower I’ve seen have never been very big. Tall buildings are nothing new, but this metal structure with so many holes and gaps just made me look up with my mouth gaping open. If you look at the photo on the left you can see how small the people are in comparison! I had to walk pretty far to even get the whole thing to fit in a photo!
So if there is one skyscraper experience you must have, it’s probably the Eiffel Tower because of its crazy framework. Only, I didn’t get to go up the Eiffel Tower because those dark clouds just got darker and decided to let me sample their rain, thunder, and lightning combo whammy. This of course shut down the elevators and because the framework is basically full of holes, I was completely drenched in rain. Umbrellas were completely useless, and so I used my windbreaker to cover my backpack which had my camera inside. So learn from my mistake and when you get to Paris, always check the weather forecast and go see the Eiffel Tower on a nice sunny day.
If you’re still not convinced, I can tell you that when I managed to run to the nearest subway station it was closed due to some sort of maintenance problem, and when I got to the next one there were so many people crowded inside. The announcements were only made in French, and so none of the tourists waiting around had a clue what was going on. The cars came once every 35-45mins and were so jam packed only a couple people managed to squeeze in before it left. So I waited there in soggy shoes for nearly 2 hours before I got on and to my hotel. I clearly have a bad luck curse when it comes to towers because the same thing happened when I was trying to see the Skyview in Toykyo. I saw nothing but clouds, not the Tokyo Tower.
Your turn ♥ Have you ever been to the Eiffel Tower? What was the worst luck you’ve had while traveling?
