The Eiffel Tower

Writing this from our ferry from Calais back to Dover called “Pride of Burgundy”. It is really crowded today than last time, maybe because today is a Sunday.

The shadow and the participants of the run

This morning we went to see the Eiffel Tower. Well, we have been seeing it everyday for the past three days but today we actually climbed up, all the way up to the top third floor! The view was beautiful, but more than the bird’s eye view of Paris, I was excited to see the shadow of Eiffel tower fall on the roads from the top.

Paris itself was brimming with excitement today. There was a marathon or run of some sort happening and Parisians were participating in large numbers. From teenagers to the elderly, everybody was up and about in the long and wide roads of Paris. Around the Eiffel tower, we could spot Indians(or Pakistanis or Bangladeshis, we couldn’t tell and even if we did, they wouldn’t admit it because it is safer to call themselves Indians anyway) and Africans selling cheap Eiffel Tower souvenirs. I got Eiffel tower key-rings from an Indian looking guy with a tattoo below his ears who said “ek euro se paanch, sirf Indians ke liye”.

We had to walk from the Bateaux Mouches again today to the Eiffel tower because the roads all around were blocked for the run. We had to wait for half an hour before we could go up so we were hanging around talking to the tour manager Shruti and driver Gauret(sp?). The driver said he hated this place because of the long haphazard queues and the crowd. I wonder what he would say if he went to Juhu beach on a weekend.

The long queue

The Eiffel tower was designed by Gustave Eiffel and the tower was built as the entrance arch to the 1889 World Fair. The most visited paid monument in the world, the Eiffel tower is the tallest building in Paris and stands 324 m tall.

When it was finally time to go up, Cheena was so excited that he started taking photos and videos right from the staircases even after the guard at the gate told him off to stop clicking away. The elevator went sideways up to the 2^nd floor and we had a great view already. We could see huge clusters of people waiting around the square for the run to begin. The shadow of the tower fell down on to the square and I was thinking, “Wow! We are really atop the Eiffel tower!”.  While we were taking in the view, our tour manager got us tickets for the third floor and for some strange reason, the elevator took a longer time to go up from the 2^nd to the 3^rd floor than from the ground to the 2^nd floor. The view was really beautiful but I thought the 2^nd floor was better somehow. We took a lot of pictures and also saw Gustave Eiffel’s office.  We saw a display showing the tallest buildings in other countries of the world but was a little disappointed to see the TAJ MAHAL representing India (and also the Red Fort, I think). Aren’t there taller buildings in India?!

I found good vegetarian food at the restaurants on the 2^nd floor! While coming back, I grabbed food while the husband decided to have ice cream. Yummy food and great views… so we decided to take the stairs instead of the elevators. It was tough considering the state of my legs, but fun nonetheless. Once we were back down, we tried to click multiple selfies of the tower and ourselves but with little success (you will get what I mean when you see the pictures!). We stopped by to grab some food. We had to walk ten minutes to find a store that sold vegetarian sandwiches and guess what the store was called? Publicis drugstore. The familiar Publicis logo brought a smile on my face.

We got back to the bus with the food bags and laid back to watch a Hindi movie called Hassee toh Fassee(mokka movie) and I was vedikai paathufying and eating. Now we are at the ferry and after much difficulty, we found a table to sit. Time is now 1750 and we would probably get home around 2100. Will write again from London! Au revoir!

Expenses: 

• Five Eiffel Tower Keyrings  - 

-->€1.00

Food at Eiffel Tower - 

--> €6.00 

Telescope atop Eiffel Tower - 

--> €2.00

Picture postcards -  €2.00

Loo - €1.00

Food in the ferry - €16.00