Paris: The Eiffel Tower

The only thing we planned in advance to do in Paris, other than the bus tour of the city, was spend some time at the Eiffel Tower.  The Eiffel Tower, named for its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, was built in 1889.  It is the tallest building in Paris, standing 1,063 feet tall, about the same height as an 81-story building.

We saw an advertisement with a small Eiffel Tower stuck on someone's head, so Cooper was pretty fascinated with taking pictures to look like the Tower was on Daddy's head.

A shot straight up the middle:

The footing of one of the towers:

You can walk (we did not) 300 stairs up to the first level, and another 300 up to the second level, or you can take an elevator, which can also take you to the very top.

We did:

I wasn't a huge fan of being up there, which is why we're all sort of crouched on the floor.  It took me a couple of minutes to actually stand up and walk around.

I held my camera over the edge and took a picture straight down.  The legs of the Tower seem much closer together from this angle:

Coop also enjoyed the nearby carousel ride:

And we picked up a souvenir "to remind me of this visit to the real Eiffel Tower."

He carried it with him the next day on our bus tour.

And held it up to show the real Eiffel Tower.