Eiffel Tower

Because the Eiffel Tower is so iconic (and because we truly had such an awesome experience with it),  I felt that it deserved its own post.

 Also, because Steve takes way more pictures than I do, so I have a good 5 dozen pictures to try to sort through and use.

The way the Eiffel Tower works, you can buy tickets online for a specific time to go up it, and because Steve scheduled our tickets at 8:00, we got to see the lights turn on, as well as the sky change around it.

The area around the Tower was quite nice, as well, with a little garden, and when it came time to go up, although we'd planned on walking up the stairs as far as we could go (there are three levels, and the third level is only reachable by elevator), we couldn't find the stairs.  So the elevator it was, which gave a new meaning to the expression "packed like sardines" for me.

Once we got up there, we just couldn't get enough of the view.  It was truly amazing.

We'd seen this icon from our first night in Paris:

 And been drawn to it from the start.

 I mean, how can you not be?

 It's fun that it now sparkles every hour, too.

 Steve got a couple of good videos our first night, which are fun to watch:

And so once we got up there, we had to take some good shots.

It's really quite romantic.

 And quite a lot bigger than I'd pictured it.  I mean, after all, Phineas and Ferb climbed the dang thing with a grappling hook in the opening credits!
 
 I definitely have a new respect for engineers after seeing this.

 Under the tower:

 The view from the top.

It's incredible.  This place is so famous, and now to know that I've been there--I've seen the Seine in person--it's a fun experience.

 Well, if you say so....

 They had a line all along to show how high up you were, and on one of the levels, there was a diagram all around the entire level showing how other countries' famous monuments measured up, height-wise, to the Eiffel Tower.

Because I'm prideful, it was satisfying to see that America has several buildings taller.

There was also a small little scene showing when Thomas Edison came to visit Gustave Eiffel.

 That was fun to see:

 Gustave:

 A shot of me--my hair started out cute, but quickly gave up:

 And Steve.  He stayed cute all night.  Lucky guy.

 We then climbed the stairs all the way down, which was both fun and gave us a feeling of accomplishment--that is quite a lot of stairs!

There you go!