Making the World Wonder...

Most monuments in Paris seemed to have the tendency to not be visible from a little afar, but then to suddenly pounce upon an unsuspecting soul just as the poor soul turns a corner or tilts the head a wee bit! After that, the awestruck soul can do nothing but jaw-droppingly stare at that which made its presence so felt! So was it with the Eiffel Tower.

Scarcely had we got out of the metro station and begun lamenting that it was nowhere to be seen, did it amazingly loom before us just as we walked a few yards. This first, proper sighting of it made me recollect what I'd felt when I saw our very own Taj Mahal for the first time. Beautiful, humungous things really do make quite an impact, don't they!?! It often makes me wonder why good things are supposed to come in small packages! :-)

As expected, the serpentine queues at the Eiffel were really just that; serpentine! After debating for a while whether to be lazy and take the elevator right up to the top or to climb up two levels and then take the elevator, we decided on the latter. I won't say it was a wise decision because a level up the Eiffel Tower is really not an ordinary level now, is it!?! Nevertheless, we made it to the top with just a little huffing and puffing! To the first level, that is! The ascent to the second level seemed to be a trifle easier; maybe because the whole train of people of which we were a part, intermittently paused together and then set off again towards the summit. I'm not a great admirer of views from atop tall buildings, but from what I could sense, everyone looked like they were agreeing about the awesomeness of the view.

Once on the second level, another wait for the elevators followed, to go up right to the top. Elevators are the only way to go up from the second level. Again, after pictures galore from the very top, we started the less arduous climb down. What interested me most were the dummy or two that had been set up in a couple spots to give the impression of construction workers fixing up something!

Although the Eiffel itself is quite impressive, it's the walk up to it that is even more so. Called the Champ de Mars, the green lawns, the fountains, the sculptures, the expanse of marbled space, all make a very breathtaking picture! Of course, this walk is infested with hawkers aplenty, all armed with miniature models of the tower and other sundry knick knacks.

It's quite amazing that a structure that was first pretty loathed by Parisians has now become the most famous symbol of their city! Like I've mentioned earlier, it didn't impress me as much as the Pantheon did, for example, but without doubt, it is quite a wonderment. More so, at night.