Paris, indeed France without its Eiffel Tower would be difficult to imagine and akin to London without Big Ben,Venice without its gondola's, Switzerland without its alps, Austria without strudel, Fred without Ginger, peaches without cream, Charlene without Scott, Milli without Vanilli......okay I think you get the point! It just wouldn't be quite the same!
However things were not always so! When it was built (1887 - 1889) the locals considered it to be an absolute eye-sore upon their beautiful stone city. They could not wait for 1909 when its 20 year tenure would come to an end and for it to be pulled apart beam by beam, girder by girder! Some locals went so far as to say that it was from there you had the best view of Paris because whilst on the tower you didn't have to look at it! (That title now belongs in many Parisienne's eyes to the relatively nearby Montparnasse 1960's black glass skyscraper!A big black zit smack bang near the centre of this exquisitely beautiful face!) For a structure that was absolutely hated by its locals when first erected Parisiennes would not be without this world-famous landmark these days!
THE most visited structure in the world with well over 6 million visitors per year (simple arithmetic means on average every day whilst open someone arrives every 3 seconds to go up it!) means if you want to head up its beautiful old rattling elevators between its three floors you might be standing in line a while! (That is unless your fantastique Tour Director has pre-organised group entry for you!)
Rising to 300m to its top and then another 24 meters for its telecommunication mast (which wasn't added until the 1950's!) it was the tallest structure built by man still standing since The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt was built around 2500BC (okay there might have been the odd one or two European cathedrals that pipped the Great Pyramid by a few metres but never let a meter or eleven get in the way of the romance of a great story I say!)
So why was she built? (HER nickname is "the lady of iron" (not to be confused of course with that menial task we must do to clothes to remove the wrinkles!)) Pretty simple - it was built as the entry arch to the World Fair of 1889 (and of course Paris won the right to hold this event due to its 100 year anniversary of the French Revolution in 1789). The Fair itself was held in the large field behind the tower, Champs du Mars ,the original training field for the soldiers who trained at the Ecole Militaire (Military School) at its southern end. These days you are more likely to see "Sapiers pompiers" (thats the French firemen ladies!) playing rugby or football rather than military training sessions!
And what saved her from imminent destruction in 1909? A simple telecommunication system was installed before 1909 which proved extremely useful and particularly so during WWI. The expiry permit was thus extended and in 1913 for the first time wireless communications were achieved with the U.S. and so it proved far too useful to pull down!Some simple trivia: ~10,000Tonnes , almost 20,000 braces/struts/I-beams and around 2.5million rivets. 50Tonnes of "Eiffel Tower green" (hmm,yes thats a STRANGE looking green!Looks more like "sewer brown" to me!) paint every 7 years and there were meant to be 1789 steps to the very top (of course in recognition of the revolution!They actually got it wrong and so there are just a few too many but again what's a few steps between friends!)
It sways in heat and wind (around 20cm and up to 6-7cm respectively), it is home to the famous restaurant Jules Verne (~60-70euros for entree , ~80-100euros for main and dessert ~30-40 euros,whack on a 100euro simple bottle of vin and you're up for a pretty $$$ evening!)Thats IF you can get in!)
There have been many "jumpers" in its history but the most famous of all actually survived - AJ Hacket - 1986 - avec le bungee cord of course! He was promptly arrested by the gendermerie and accused of an act of terrorism to which he replied it was an act of "tourism"!Chur chur bru!
The hourly evening light show was installed for 2000 Millenium celebrations and meant to last a year but after they pulled it down they realised how great it was so re-installed it. Now on the hour for ~ 5minutes once dusk arrives, the tower glitters and sparkles like a Liberace jacket on steroids!
"Le createur" - engineer and designer Gustav Eiffel was awarded the right to build his tower after winning the design competition for an appropriate structure for the entrance of the fair. Another entrant designed a huge guillotine style entrance but of course it didn't win and it got the chop (Okay okay that was bad!True story though!)
An engineering marvel of its time they say that the pressure exerted by the weight of the structure upon its four concrete (and hydraulically adjustable!) pads is no more per square inch than that of an ordinary person sitting on a chair!Anyway,so much more to tell of this Parisian and French icon and institution yet that's enough for now. To see her silhouette on Bastille Day celebrations from Champs du Mars with fireworks emanating from its peak and fireworks from Chaillot palace on the hill behind is truly something to see once in life!Merci beaucoup Monsieur Eiffel!
A la prochaine!
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