We almost didn’t ride to the top of the Eiffel Tower — it’s expensive, and we’d heard the lines were long, and I had already gone as a child. But since Justin had never been to Paris before, we decided to bite the bullet and go.
And I’m so glad we did. We arrived first thing in the morning to beat the crowds, waited for ten minutes at the most, and then got to ride up three elevators to see the most beautiful, misty morning from the summit.
Looking off in any direction, you could only see so much of the ground through the haze… but look a little higher, and you’d see the steeples and domes of churches peeking through the fog.
There’s something about being so high up that’s a little thrilling, and the whole crowd at the top felt a little giddy. After a few minutes of snapping pictures of the view, I had to step back to just appreciate the party vibe (complete with a bar selling pricey glasses of champagne at 10 a.m.) and to start to take in the fascinating architecture of the tower as well.
As we circled around, I kept spotting interesting frames and reflective surfaces, and then parking myself to just wait and see what happened. That’s how I got this shot (below), definitely my favorite from the top and one of my favorites from the whole trip:
Somehow this captured so many little episodes together and kind of encapsulated the whole experience!
It started to get a little crowded at the top, so after a bit we headed back down to the lower levels, where you can really appreciate all the gorgeous details of the tower’s construction… and just the scale of the whole thing.
I’ll never get tired of watching other people take selfies. It’s just so amusing that this would be the modern ritual that would unite so much of humanity. No matter how serious you are, I love that everyone has a sense of humor about contorting themselves to get a quick photo this way. And then, underneath that, it’s also a moment when genuine excitement about being in a place breaks through.
(And thennnnnn there’s the art historian in me always thinking about how this one strange ritual born out of our generation’s relationship with technology, unapologetic turn toward narcissism, and drive to status signal with travel photos on social media has come to completely reframe our relationships with architectural space… I’m not judging; I do it everywhere too. But I’m sure looking forward to reading that paper someday!)
All in all, we had a pretty amazing experience. I don’t care if it is a cliche — if you’re in Paris, you should definitely go visit the Eiffel Tower.