EIFFEL
TOWER
Online Ticketing for Visiting the Tour Eiffel
The
symbol of Paris from the 19th Century enters the 21st Century. Rather
than
stand in
the winding queues of tourists, first crowding at the ticket
windows and then an even longer one to take one of the elevators, you
can now get tickets online, delivered to your cell phone, so while taking
that bateaux cruise down the Seine River (see Paris River Cruises),
and you spot the tower and wonder, hey, can I go up that thing? Deciding
to
fit
in the
tour
into
a spur
of the moment visit. Well, not quite, for that you’ll still have
to get in line. You need to order the online ticket
the day before you want to visit, but you can cut at least one of the
lines.
Built
for the Universal Paris Exhibition of 1889 to mark one hundred years
of
the French Revolution, the tower of intricate iron work 1,030
feet high, designed by Gustav Eifel from Dijon, began construction in
1887, with over a hundred workers in steel assembly workshops building
18,000 different units of the tower to be assembled on the site by another
135 steel workers. Built in stages with three platform levels, weighing
over 10,000 tons, the lights of the Eiffel Tower define and identify
Paris.
Ticket
prices for the Eiffel Tower depend on how far up you go and how you get
there. Elevator to the second floor are 8.10€ for adults,
elevator to the top floor 13.10€, or if you want to climb the stairs,
which only go to the second floor (360 ft high, but by far enough to
exhaust and exhilarate the most hardy, 4.50€, student and the disabled
get discounts and children under 4 are free. 
From
the second floor level, to reach the top of the tower (905 ft), visitors
have to take the elevator
from the second floor, which during the peak visitor seasons, can be
a considerable wait, so allow plenty of time if that’s your goal.
Climbing the stairs is a much shorter wait from the ground level, but
a longer journey. On the climb up the stairs at the first floor level
a summer terrace garden has been added for a stop to relax and catch
your breath at 187 feet, halfway, where you can also pick up an audio
guide for your Ipod.
The Eiffel Tower has three restaurants, the Restaurant 58 Tour Eiffel,
the restaurant on the first floor level (named for 58 meters high) with
French Cuisine and window views of Paris, the famous Jules Verne Restaurant
on the second floor level, a very pricey Michelin Star gourmet affair
absolutely requiring a reservation to ride the private elevator, and
the Buffets des Tour Eiffel. The restaurants on the tower are probably
better visited on their own separate trip, if you want that experience,
but the views, especially in the evenings can be quite worth the effort.
The
Eiffel Tower is set in its own vast green park, where the exposition
once stood. The tower is an easy walk from the Invalides (see Napoleon’s
Tomb Invalides) and across the river from the Grand Palais
and Petit Palais
(see Beaux
Art at the Petit Palais),
next to the river boat cruise boats dock, not to mention all those tour
busses. Aside from a magnificent view of Paris, and marvel in wonder
at the structure of the world’s most iconic and famous French landmark,
you’ll can also ponder the world of today, watching
the French special police amble around the base of the tower among the
tour groups, with machine guns slung on their uniformed shoulders. © Bargain
Travel Europe
Reviews of Restaurant 58 Tour Eiffel
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Eiffel
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These articles are copyrighted and the sole property of Bargain Travel Europe and WLPV, LLC. and may not be copied or reprinted without permission.
See Also:
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