The Eiffel Tower

I think if I had to pick one favorite memory, it would have to be the Eiffle Tower. The first time I saw it, it took my breath away and I wanted to cry. I was walking around the corner at the Les Invalides and my niece said, "look up". There it was. I couldn't see the whole thing but it was still a beauty to behold.

The next time I saw it was when we went to the Arc de Triomphe and took pictures of it from the top of the Arc. My niece and I are on the top of the Arc de Triomphe and you can see the Eiffel Tower in the background. It was quite a ways away still. Before heading over to the Eiffel Tower we had coffee at a near by cafe. We also had hamburgers and French fries too. If you know me, hamburgers and fries are my favorite food so I had to try them in Paris and they did not disappoint.
Then we finally made it to the actual site. Lots of pictures were taken that day. We got there in the later afternoon and took daylight photos. After that we went to stand in the two hour line to purchase tickets to go to the top. We met a nice lady in line that was from Georgia and we talked to her while waiting for our turn to take the elevator to the top. We later ran into her in a couple other tourist spots and said hi. She was traveling alone and it was difficult to take her own picture in front of things so we helped her out.

Here is a picture looking up the middle of the Eiffle Tower from the ground. It was so massive from this point of view. There were men climbing ropes up the middle of it while we were there and a man entertaining the crowd by imitating the tourists walking through the square. It was very funny and helped the time go by quicker. My niece was filling out postcards while waiting because we heard that they have a postoffice on the Eiffel Tower and it has it's very own postmark but when we got up there, it was closed for construction. Maybe next time :)While we were at the top, the sun set over Paris. We couldn't have timed it better. My camera failed to capture the blazing red ball of fire that we were seeing as the sun slid below the horizon but take my word for it, it was gorgeous. This was not planned and was a special treat, for sure.

We then went down and took pictures as the lights lit up. The exciting part happens on the hour when for 10 minutes the lights sparkle very brightly. You don't want it to end. I thought I had video taped the sparkeling lights but I think I was too in awe and forgot. Plus, we had people running over to us to take their pictures in front of the dazzling beauty. What a perfectly wonderful day this was.