FRANCE - DAY 2 - EIFFEL TOWER

Today was the first time we went on an organised tour. We boarded the double decker bus and headed off on a tour of the city. They zipped past different historical sites at break neck speed which made getting photos a challenge, however we managed to get several good shots.

Then we saw it. The Eiffel Tower. It's amazing to think that a structure that was built for the World Fair in 1889 and was only suppose to be temporary is still standing. When it was built a lot of Parisians didn't like it, thought it was an eyesore and wanted it pulled down.

When you get up close, the steel is so thin it looks like common angle iron and the paint looks thicker than the steel, and we were about to travel up through its bowels. We were informed by our guide at the bottom that the ticket machines to purchase tickets to the top, which was on the second level, were out of order. That didn't deter us. We tried them anyway. Success! after a fashion. Instead of printing our 4 tickets it only gave us three. The security guard saw what had happened and we were ushered to the front of the line and up we went, all the way to the top.

Looking up through the windows in the ceiling of the lift you could see just how far it was to the top. We were 281 metres up on a thin steel structure and the view was . . . fabulous! Of course we had to have a glass of champagne to celebrate our ascent, even if it did cost us an outrageous amount of money. It was well worth it.