High points, part 2

The irony of climbing the Eiffel Tower, is that it disappears from the cityscape and your view of Paris no longer includes that famously iconic image.  But it is still a fun trip, and certainly helps you appreciate just how enormous it really is.  When Gustave Eiffel built the tower (in 1889, to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Revolution and the World's Fair in Paris) he oversaw every single aspect, even building the steel frame pieces and rivets in his own factory.  Every seven years it gets repainted, although it has stayed brown since 1968 (I'd like to vote for a nice shade of forest green).  My favorite fact about the Eiffel Tower is this: it distributes its weight so elegantly that it exerts no more pressure on the ground per centimeter than a man seated in a four-legged chair.        

Beginning the trek

Champs de Mars, with the Tour Montparnasse in the background
(our final frontier in the way of tall things to climb)

See Sacré-Cœur on the hill?

We climbed the 650+ stairs to the second level, then the elevator to the very top (they don't let you take the stairs all the way up) and got there just in time to watch the sun set over the city. Eating our homemade picnic and pointing out all the monuments we could recognize, we avoided the 15€ shot glasses of champagne (yes, people will actually pay for that) and still managed to celebrate our life together with all its wonderful surprises.          

Palais de Chaillot

The Seine

Looking towards home...and La Défense (the business district)

It would be inappropriate not to include a kiss

We stayed up there until it got too cold to handle, and Tom thought he might have a seizure from the strobe lights that flash every hour (video to come).  They look a lot better from far away. 

Look at that handsome guy with his new haircut

What a great photographer...this picture is postcard quality!