That really tragic street
lamp (Léon Bloy)
| <----- Height with TV antenna today: 324 m
| with a flagpole in 1889: 312 m
/ \
| |
|___| <----- 3rd floor (273 m). You can get here
| | by the elevator only. Gustave Eiffel had a
| | private apartment on this floor.
| |
| |
| | <----- When the sun heats one side, the metal
' ` expands and makes the tower lean slightly.
| |
| |
| | <----- Nearly 400 people have fallen or jumped
| | from the tower. They usually fall onto
| | lower parts of the tower, and
|...| the firefighters have trouble removing
' : ` the parts of their body.
| : |
| : |
| : | <----- The puddled iron requires 50 tons of
| : | paint every 7 year.
| : : |
|.:.:.|
./.:...:.\. <----- 2nd floor (116 m). You can climb the
|.:___:.| stairs up to this floor (674 steps in the
| | | | wind), or use the public elevator. Unless
| | | | you eat at the highly reputed restaurant
| | | | Jules-Verne, which has its private
' ' ` ` elevator.
| | | |
|.|_____|.|
/..:.....:..\ <----- 1st floor (58 m). 6,315,324 visitors
| : : | came at least to this floor in 2000.
/ : : \ Here you can, well, buy souvenirs and
/ :_..-.._: \ take photographs.
/ :' `: \
/ / \ \ <---- Four big pillars distant from
/ / \ \ 100 m at the base support the
/ / . \ \ tower's 10,100 tons.
/ / /|\ \ \
/____| ....... | ....... |____\ ....................................
|
.______ several planes have passed under the tower
O shepherd Eiffel Tower, the flock of
bridges bleats this morning (Guillaume
Apollinaire)
Other facts:
- The tower was built from January 1887 to March 1889, for the
1889 World's Fair which celebrated the 100 years of the French
Revolution.
- The nearest underground station may be Champ-de-Mars-Tour
Eiffel, but you should get off the metro at Trocadéro instead,
because it will give you the best possible view. Crossing the Seine
from the hill of Chaillot to the tower, watching its elegant shape
be distorted as you approach the gigantic pillars, is a great
experience.
- The tower sparkles during 10 minutes every hour during the
evening. You can see it from all over Paris, but the scene is even
better from the Trocadéro.
- The owner is the City of Paris.
- There is always a line for the elevator, so go to the
Montparnasse building or the department store La Samaritaine
(which is free) if you want to see Paris from the above, not to the
Eiffel Tower. But maybe it's just me.
- A legend says that the tower is installed on hydraulic
jacks. This is not true: the hydraulic jacks were used during
construction, and removed afterwards.
- The Eiffel Tower has been imitated several times, but never
equalled: there is a half-size replica in Las Vegas; one of its giant feet goes through the roof of the Paris Opera House, which is filled with slot machines. You can find another Eiffel Tower in England (Blackpool Tower, thanks Mod), a one-fifth
scale replica in Prague, an ugly 333-meter high imitation in Tokyo
(known as the Tokyo Tower), and other replicas in Paris,
Tennessee, in Paris, Texas, in Southfork Ranch, in Romania, in Shenzhen (China). And also the Tsutenkaku (通天閣) in Osaka, which (liveforever tells me) looks like the Tokyo Tower.