Paris is one of my favorite cities and surely I don’t have to explain why. Just be there to feel the magic, such magic that we have read about in fairy tales as a child. Soon in the blog I will put some other posts about this city. I have prepared for you some useful information on sightseeing and travel particulars that I particularly liked. In this post you will see and you will learn a little more about the Eiffel Tower, which certainly deserves a special treatment and separate post.

Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel). History

The tower was built between 1887-1889 by a team of 250 men. Less than 3 years was found to be phenomenal for that period. The Tour Eiffel is named in honor of the architect who designed it – Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel.
When I looked down on Paris from the top of the tower, I could see very clearly that the city is made up of triangles – this is the arrangement of streets and buildings. Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel belonged to the Freemasonry, a fraternity that is characterized by, among the others, the existence of triangles and extensive Masonic symbolism. One of the symbols of Freemasonry is the compass, you can not fail to notice the similarity of the tower with this drawing tool ;)

The tower for a long time was the highest architectural object in the world, until 1929, when the Crysler Building was erected in New York City. Its height is 342 m and to the top there are 1665 steps. But I preferred to use the elevator, btw. currently there isn’t any other choice :) The iron structure weighs approx. 10,500 tons, and to paint the tower every seven years is consumed more than 50 tons of paint.

Visiting the Eiffel Tower

Before leaving for Paris, I had no intention of entering the tower, because I heard from my friends that have often been in Paris, that the queues to enter the tower usually takes up to 2 hours or more. It turned out that during the evening, the waiting time is significantly reduced. After 20 minutes we were already inside and we were watching the wonderful panorama of the city, which was even more attractive because of the beautiful Parisian lighting. The tickets for adults cost 15 Euro whereas for small children the price is 10,50 Euro. However it looks like that from January 2015 there will be some small difference in the prices. This ticket allows you to enter up to 3 levels in addition to the first two terraces are bars, restaurants and souvenir shops. On the top floor, as you probably have guessed, the view is amazing.

I discourage to buy food under the tower, because the price for a simple sandwich or a hot dog is on average of 10 Euros. I think it is better to eat in a French restaurant. Of course, we spend more, but it will be a meal enjoyable and valuable.

For me was even more interesting the way out of the Eiffel Tower, when from each side we were encircled by the merchants of souvenirs and toys for children. There were a lot of them, about 30 under the same tower, and even more in the surrounding area. I think this is also something worth to know if you’re going to visit it with some child, since the child will most likely want to have each one of those toys. If you decide to buy something from those “illegal” traders (certainly you will not get a receipt), we should take into account that the price they give is not final, rather inflated, so you should propose a price. Personally, I do not buy from them, because in France there are very high taxes, and I feel sorry for the ordinary people who have their shops nearby and honestly pay taxes and they would be negatively affected as well as the whole economy. We should remember that buying in this way, we support the illegal trade.

Is it worth it to visit the Eiffel Tower?

I think this is a must do when travelling to Paris. I carried from the tower a new interesting experience and amazing images on the city by night.  I hope that now you do not have any doubt as to whether you want to climb to the top of the tower. If you have additional questions, then feel free to write them in the comments. :)

Photos Sergiofoto.pl