la tour eiffel

{Photos: Tom & I}

So on the day we visited the Eiffel Tower it was pretty murky and dull. It had been raining all week in Paris so there really wasn't any better day to visit. The Australian Embassy is actually on the road next to the Eiffel Tower and when I saw the blue sky-ed billboard, I secretly missed the warmer weather just a little! When we arrived at the base of the tower, we were pleasantly surprised by a lack of a line. I've heard from others that in Summer you can expect a line that goes for almost half a day long and given it's pretty much the most popular attraction in Paris, I expected at least some sort of line in Winter too. Well nuh uh! The only other people around were a few Australian families behind us (perhaps us Aussies are the only ones who dare travel North every January). They say hot air rises but I certainly did not feel like it did when we went up! The view was well, nice, but it was somewhat tainted by the overenthusiastic clouds which hung gloomily all around. As you can see. When the lady at the ticket stand asked if we wanted a ticket to go all the way up to the top, we thought, of course (and so we bought the 2 level combined ticket) however when we got to the tip, all we saw was whiteness. It was like climbing Jack's humungous beanstalk - we were literally 'up in the clouds'! It certainly did not look like a very romantic looking place for proposals (I personally think Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence is the most beautiful place propose haha) and picnics - the Jardin des Tuileries adjacent to the tower also looked uninhabited in its wet and bare state, so perhaps it was not so much a great idea to visit in Winter. I thought I'd share these photos anyway though for no one goes to Paris without posting photos of the Eiffel Tower! Hopefully next time we visit it will be a more summery and vibrant experience.