I have yet to meet a person who doesn't know where the Eiffel Tower is. Or to go a step further, anyone who says they don't like the Eiffel Tower. Yet, when it was first built there was much resistance from Parisians. They considered it an eyesore! Though it is a tourist attraction, with a capital T, one must fully experience it at least once in a lifetime.
That being said, after the required trip to the top, which can be rather unpleasant if in fact you don't enjoy standing in line like cattle for hours on end, in my opinion the Eiffel Tower is best enjoyed from ground level. This way you get to see it from every angle. Scenic photo ops present themselves at every twist and turn.
There are nooks and crannies to be discovered, even in the tiny pathways that mingle in front of the tower
Can you imagine that this grand piece of architecture was not to be a permanent structure? C'est vrai! Constructed for the Worlds Fair it was to be only standing for 20 years and then taken down after that!
Just look at the ironwork, the detail, the pretty scroll pattern in the arch. It is amazing how delicate the details are up close..when from football fields away it looks like a hunk of metal. It was an engineering marvel for it's time. Who in there right mind could tear that down?
And it is so picturesque. She is very photogenic, non? She never takes a bad picture. She is quintessential Paris.
Paris wouldn't be Paris without it. Like Rome wouldn't be Rome without the Vatican, or New York City wouldn't be New York City without the Empire State Building. They all go hand in hand. Could you imagine a Paris sans La Tour Eiffel? I for one am glad I don't have to.
This particular time, I made a new discovery. You should treasure what you find when you just take a separate path, a zig..rather than a zag, a path that is just not on the map. I discovered a beautiful secluded oasis just steps from the busy maze of traffic at the Tower. A pond with koi, hungry ducks and graceful weeping willows. The curve of the arch met the ground and reminded me of a rainbow. Yes, Paris's very own rainbow. And this oasis was the pot of gold at the end.
Do you think the hoards of tourists would still flock to Paris year after year if there was no giant steel landmark pulling them there as if by magnetic force? Would as many people know Paris if there were no connection to the famous Tour Eiffel? And better yet..what would have happened if they did take it down all those years ago, would life be different?
Care to speculate? How would you feel if the city suddenly announced that they were taking it down?
