Paris tour - Eiffel tower

1400 hrs; the weather was sunny and Paris looked beautiful. We started our tour of Paris, with the map held firmly. There was a chill in the air, as you would expect in European countries, but it felt refreshing. There’s hardly any pollution. Just then I smelt a stench in the air, which brought me back to earth. We were just passing a fish market. The stench was bearable now. Psst... I love fish; especially the edible ones. My manager also is a non-vegetarian so we both stood there looking at the varied species of fishes and other sea creatures. After gulping the imaginary dishes, we carried on walking.

The Eiffel tower was in sight. I was getting excited, and my feet started moving faster. After crossing many buildings and streets, we arrived at the lawns next to the tower. Trust me friends; it is an absolutely amazing piece of engineering marvel. A steel structure that’s humongous which will leave you in awe. I took some photos. My joy knew no bounds when my manager said, about going to the tower top. He readily went ahead and stood in a queue to buy tickets to the top.

Meanwhile, I went to a stall nearby and bought a hotdog. I was a little tired; hence I sat down on a bench right under the tower and started eating. People of all kinds were present there; each one of them eager to reach the top. I was quietly munching at the hotdog, when I heard a female voice. “Do you speak English?” it asked. I looked up and nodded.

In front of me stood a tall, slim white girl, who handed me a letter. It read that she was from Bosnia her father was suffering from leukemia and needed help. I got up and said, “I don’t have much money!” and I searched my trouser pockets. I did find some money, but it certainly was not enough to cure her father’s cancer, if that was true by the way. I gave it to her. I almost felt her lean towards me. It was nothing else but anger. Forget THANK YOU, she instead cussed me in Bosnian or god knows which language and walked off. I looked around, and sat back again to finish my hotdog.

My jaws hurt, as I wondered why the bread was so hard. I was dying to eat some Indian food. Nevertheless, we got the tickets and we waited for the elevator to arrive. It did and a good number of people got in. Next, it started the ascent which wasn’t the normal straight up, but rather a steep climb. This is to accommodate with the shape of the tower. There are 4 such elevators in each of the tower’s foot. Anyway, we reached the 1st floor, and even from there the city looked sensational. We were at quite a height. We took some more snaps and had to be careful with our cameras slipping away with the gale that was blowing. We circled around to do a complete sight seeing.

We were still not satisfied. We next bought tickets to the absolute top of the tower and reached there. I just couldn’t believe my eyes with the view from up there. You just got to be there to experience it. We clicked away with our cameras, this time more careful with the wind getting stronger. Again we circled around and came next to a glass room. Inside that room stood 3 men absolutely motionless. I pressed my nose against the glass and watched. Only after a close look did I realize that these were wax statues of Sir Eiffel.

It was almost a couple of hours that we had spent on this tower. Our tummies had started complaining and we willy-nilly started our descent back to ground. Once down, we made plans for the next day. We decided to visit the Louvre. For those who don’t know; it is the world’s largest art museum. We walked back to our hostel after having dinner and slept soundly. Mona Lisa was waiting for us and we had to see her next morning.