There is something about the Eiffel Tower that just draws you in … you look for it everywhere in Paris … It is a landmark you always try to find, it never gets old.  You take endless photos of the Iron Lady because you are pretty sure they all look different. It is a stunning piece of Architecture designed by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 World’s Fair.  The fair held a competition for a monument to be built on the site which was to be the entrance to the fair grounds.  The fair lasted for 18 months and one of the requirements of the winning monument was that it needed to be dismantled once the Fair was over.  Hundreds of entries were submitted but The Eiffel Tower beat out other interesting concepts like a Giant Guillotine that would have been the same size as the current tower!  A guillotine would definitely have been a sight to see but I am sure it would have left a very different impression on Fair goers!  Gustave Eiffel was already a famous architect at the time and having his name attached to the project pretty much guaranteed it’s win.  Eiffel oversaw and financed the tower’s construction and he struck a deal with the city that allowed the tower to stay up for 20 years after the fair ended so that he could recoup the costs of construction.  It only took 6 months for him to make his money back and so needless to say … The tower made him a very wealthy man.  At the end of the 20 years, Eiffel Tower ownership transferred over to the City of Paris.  Now it was a huge money maker, a successful scientific lab (Eiffel had built an office at the top), a radio tower (which it still is today) and a world class landmark. The city wisely chose not to take it down.

Some interesting facts

– 324m tall (~81 story building)

– when constructed it surpassed the Washington Monument to be the tallest structure in the world. It held that title for 41 years until the Chrysler building in New York was constructed.

– original construction took 2 years, 2 months and 2 days (the half replica in Las Vegas took just as long to build)

– it is the tallest structure in Paris

– most visited paid monument in the world

– it was originally Red, it is repainted by hand every 7 years (takes 18 months to repaint) And the current colour is “Eiffel Tower Brown”

– the original elevators (built by the OTIS brothers are still in use today … they have been upgraded but the design is the same)  

                

  

After dark … For 5 minutes every hour the Eiffel does a 5 minute strobe light show … We even got music!

   

 

Of course they have a glass floor that Cecily did not go anywhere near!