Pont de Bir-Hakeim

In order to get our tickets for the Eiffel tower that let us use the elevator and would take us to the second floor and the summit, I had to book in February, and when I finally got through, there was only one time slot on April 15th left - at 10:30 pm. So we headed through security and entered the grounds where we found the lineup for the elevator easily. Thank goodness it's not the busy season yet because we would have been in a much longer line and would have waited much longer.
The elevator to the second floor is a double decker model that can take about 50 people at a time up through the leg of the tower, past the first floor that bears the names of all the people who were part of creating the Eiffel tower except for the one woman mathematician who was not seen as important enough to include, to the second platform.
We walked over to the elevator to the summit and spent about half an hour in the lineup for this lift. Night was settling in and the wind was increasing so we donned our touques, gloves and jackets in preparation for the weather at the top of Paris.
The lights of the city spread out below us as we walked around the third level of the tower. We could see the Arc de Triumph, Les Invalides and even Sacre Coeur lit up below us. The Seine River glistened like a sinuous snake and we could just make out the lights of the boats traveling her length. Since there was WiFi on the tower, I WhatsApp called my Mom to share a bit of the view with her. But it was a short call because all too soon we had to return to our elevator and descend to the ground beneath the Eiffel tower's skirts again.
What an experience! Who would have thought that the little farm girl from Manitoba would one day stand outside Gustave Eiffel's office on the third level of the tower?Read more