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I have many pleasant happy memories of our trip to Paris in June. None seem to stick with me so clearly as that of the Eiffel Tower. I know it might sound cliché. There is so much to see and do, and this quite obvious postcard image is the best I can do? Far from it!
I have many pleasant happy memories of our trip to Paris in June. None seem to stick with me so clearly as that of the Eiffel Tower. I know it might sound cliché. There is so much to see and do, and this quite obvious postcard image is the best I can do? Far from it!
The Eiffel tower is an impressive steel edifice. It’s very
modernist in a sense: Man over nature, a huge free standing pointed steel
girder and brace structure. A triumph of 19th Century architecture and
Science over the elements. The center piece of the 1890 Paris Exposition. At
1000 feet the tallest standing man made structure in the world at the time.
Today, in our postmodern world, where architecture no longer
is no longer as constrained by the laws of physics, the Eiffel Tower has been
dwarfed in size many times over. Until recently our own Toronto CN Tower was
the world’s tallest free standing structure, a huge sleek concrete needle in
the sky. Its unobtrusive lack of colour, perhaps at first brush rather
unimaginative and dull, nonetheless allows it to blend into the Toronto skyline
while also providing a focal point to the city.
The CN Tower is not without its own charms. I do not think it is fair to compare it with
the Eiffel Tower. They were created in different times. One might wonder if the
CN Tower will still be standing a 124 years from now. Maybe? Maybe not? No
matter. Each exists in a world of its own.
The stark magic of the Eiffel Tower by day is one of amazing
technical ingenuity, if not from a time long past. As sun sets the bronzish
copper Eiffel Tower turns gold in proportion to the growing propensity of Paris
and the night. Most notably down at the Champs de Mars fountains and walkway. It
is transformed into a mad carnival of life; gawkers, hawkers, lovers, artists,
performers, Parisians, tourists, Gypsies and thieves. They all come to watch.
At nightfall Janet and I would sit on the steps, or perhaps cuddle together on
an embankment to drink in the magic swirling about us.
As the tower becomes
a throbbing beacon of gold in the night, spotlights from the top slice through
the dark on a perpendicular angle, swaying hypnotically back and forth as the
excitement builds. At 11 pm it’s the finale everybody has been waiting for. Flashing
white lights explode all over the tower. Everybody gasps. Cheers. It is quite
breathtaking. Perhaps unnecessary. It’s a glitzy finale and no doubt the finishing
touch. However on our visit this June it was cut mercifully short leaving us with the fittingly magic and magnificent golden vision in its own rite.
On Friday we at last joined the hour and a half lineup to
the top. I kept putting it off. I hate lineups. Here they are unavoidable
unless I suppose one is either an early riser or up all night, neither of which
for us would fit the bill. It was well worth it. At each level we stopped to
gaze at the magnificent city of Paris grow smaller and smaller below. From the
top two observation decks it had become reduced to a majestic map. All the
familiar landmarks can be seen from on high stretching off to the horizon; the
Seinne, the Arc de Triumph, Grand Palace, Cathedral and Opera House to name but
a few. The mad cacophony of curving streets twist among long, flush lines of
greenery stretching out like fingers here and there across the city.
The view from the Eiffel Tower was extremely breathtaking to
say the least! I have been up higher before on mountains, in buildings, and on
an airplane. It is the sheer beauty of it all that is the point in an age where
sheer height no longer need amaze. Totally exhilarating. We arrived back to
earth quite breathless, even dizzy as we stepped off the elevator onto the
ground, swallowed up into the Paris crowds once again. It is an experience I
can’t encourage enough should you ever visit the city. The Eiffel Tower will
always remain a snapshot in my mind to savour as I will during more trying or
mundane times, a most enriching life experience.