Monter la Tour Eiffel

I came to Paris to climb the Eiffel Tower. Seriously, it was the theme of my application essay and my motivation to study in Paris. I visited in high school and due to bad weather, a rude Parisian elevator operator, and a short time line; I never made it to the top. I was stuck on the metaphorical middle floor; somewhere between the ground (my roots in English) and the tippy top (full French immersion).

As I stormed onto the plane in January, I swore that it was the first landmark that I would conquer in Paris. Well- 4 months after I landed in Paris, I climbed to the top—twice, actually. My hesitation for four months was the cold, windy weather, and the fact that it was SO close- I could do it “anytime”.

The day that I took the plunge was a sunny April day after I had made a quick stop at school—which was located 2 blocks from Mr. Eiffel. I had a short wait at the bottom since it was a Tuesday afternoon in the limbo season-- after winter but before tourist packed spring/summer. I bought a ticket for the stairs to the middle floor and started my climb up the infamous Eiffel Tower. I thought of Garrett most of the way up- he was building the Lego Eiffel Tower back in the US. The architecture is incredible. The frame is massive and the iron beams seemed to push and pull and jut out at each other. The view from the middle floor is the most impressive- but I never could have told you that unless I went to the top. The middle is the perfect platform to see the famous rooftops of Paris from and the striking Seine River. However, seeing the Paris skyline without the Eiffel Tower left me with strange feeling; it’s like when you trim a tree and you can’t help but feel like something is missing- even though everything else is the same. The top floor (another 100+ or so stairs) is really cool because they have an indoor section that guides you on which countries you are facing- assuming you have super vision and can see 3,628 miles to New York City.

I climbed down around dusk and walked over to a closer NY landmark, the Statue of Liberty. We all know it was a gift from France; well they gave themselves the same, smaller gift. It was a little tricky to get to since it’s in the middle of the Seine on a small, skinny strip of an island. I waved to her and headed back up the River towards the Eiffel Tower again. It was getting dark and I watched the Bateaux Mouches (tourist river boats) sail along the river. At around 8pm I made it back to the base of the Eiffel Tower. It lights up every night at 8pm and then every hour, on the hour until around midnight. I realized that with my ticket, I could get up the Eiffel stairs again and being waiting on the middle floor when it lit up! Great idea—except for 710 steps!

According to WikiAnswers:
There are a total of 710 steps.

9 steps to the ticket booth, x2
328 steps to the first level, x2
340 steps to the second level , x2
18 steps to the lift platform on the second level, x1
15 steps to ascend to the upper observation platform. x1

Grand total: 1387
Of course I took the Eiffel Challenge to the extreme and climbed it twice in one day—had calves screaming at me for a week—but I made it! Four years after I first stood at the roots of the Eiffel tower- a mix of my American roots and French education, I was ready to call myself fully immersed and at the pinnacle of my French immersion.