While I was studying abroad in London, my roommate and I decided to take a trip to Paris, France for three days with her visiting family members. While we were there we tried to see as much of Paris as we could in three days and one of the most important landmarks in Paris is of course the Eiffel Tower. I was ecstatic to finally see the tower for myself instead of seeing pictures of it online and I thought that nothing could ruin this experience for me. BOY WAS I WRONG!
We decided to go see the Eiffel Tower on the windiest, rainiest day of our trip. First off, there was only one of four elevators working that day to bring tourists to the top of the tower so the lines were extremely long. Second it was about 40 degrees and the only jacket I had on was a thin rain coat ( I planned for my spring break trip to bring warm weather but that did not exactly work out in my favor). Third it was extremely windy, I felt as though I had brace myself as to not get blown away by the terrible winds. Lastly, to make matters worse, it was raining. The perfect day in Paris was actually rather miserable.
Despite the poor weather I was determined to see the Eiffel Tower and go all the way to the top, but that task was not as easy as I thought. After waiting for two hours, we finally made it on the elevator to the first landing of the Tower. On the first landing of the tower is was significantly colder than it had been on the ground level and the rain was coming down so hard it was hurting my face! We tried to look out all over the city from this landing but the clouds made it hard to see much and the wind and rain were becoming unbearable. Regardless I was determined to push on and go straight to the top. We waited in line for another hour and we finally got to the tippy top of the tower. When we stepped off the elevator, the temperature felt as if it had dropped at least 10 degrees. We were freezing and the rain only hurt more the higher up we went. We were literally in a wind tunnel! I had to stand against the side of the tower to prevent myself from flying straight off the top! The scariest part of the entire adventure was making my way to the side, looking over the edge of the tower, and noticing that the Eiffel Tower was literally moving in the wind! The Tower was shaking at least six inches both ways! I was terrified! I was so scared in fact that I cut my time at the top of the tower short, to get to lower and safer ground.
I had been waiting to see the Eiffel Tower for so long that when our stop there was cut short due to weather I was rather disappointed, we all were. Since we were all so down, we decided to go back out once the weather improved and the sun went down to see the Eiffel Tower and all its glory in the night sky. And that in itself was awe inspiring. It made all of the woes of the day completely and utterly worth it.
Leigh Anne Weaver
University Of Westminster
London, England