You cannot escape the Eiffel Tower (7th Arrondissement) when you are in Paris. You can see it from dang near eveywhere and that’s exactly as God and the French intended. It’s an awesome sight and the first time you see it your face will light up with a smile. Viewing it never gets old.

The tower lights up every hour on the hour for five minutes after dark every evening. You cannot miss it.

Unfortunately, one of the times we were in Paris, the city was the temporary home of the European Union (gross) and so every monument was lit up in EU Blue. It was awful and apparently so many Parisians complained (as they are good at doing) so the government scrapped the lights and went back to normal. I’m talking Notre Dame, Invalides, the Tower, Louvre, everything was blue. It was lame.

The Tower was created by Gustave Eiffel and was completed in 1889 to mark the Worlds Fair and to signify the 100 year anniversary of that disaster for humanity that was the French Revolution. For 41 years it was the tallest man made structure on earth, beating out the Washington Monument in DC. Then America took the crown back with the Chrysler building in NYC.

There are three levels open to tourists. The first two has restaurants and the highest is an observation deck. I haven’t been up to any of them but I would like to.