Eiffel Tower

After my interview I decided to visit the Eiffel Tower. I went down to the Metro and looked at the map to figure out my route, I'm getting quite good at getting around by Metro and it's quite a convenient way to travel since trains come by every couple of minutes.

When you get off the train there is a lovely graveled walk way next to the river which I chose to use to get over the the tower. Here's a picture from it, and one from the bottom.














Around the base there are people walking about asking "do you speak English?" if you answer yes the make you sign their petition 'for the children' and they do not take no for an answer, I must have said it 5 times and still ended up signing till I realized they wanted money too. By the time I left I was sick of them and when they asked if I spoke English I put up my hand and said "no habla ingles" (just in case they got you if you spoke French too).
So, I bought my ticket and walked up the stairs to the first level. Now let me tell you if you don't have strong runners legs or live in a 20th floor walk up you are not prepared for this set of stairs. The lines for the elevators are long tho (and it might cost extra) and there was hardly any line for the stairs. By the time I reached the first level my legs burned and I was very winded. Here's a couple views of the city from the first level (sorry about the grate). They were actually doing work on this level and had half of the sides blocked off, they are building some sort of Plaza.

I then (rather stupidly) decided to walk up the stairs to the second level. It was just as long a climb as to the first level but my leg were already weak and I had to go pretty slowly up, but I gained a feeling of accomplishment. At the second level there were gift shops and a couple food shops, I felt bad for the people that work all the way up there but I suppose they probably got to take the elevator. The view from the second platform is much like the first only a bit higher up. Here are some pictures.

 This is as far as I went (I know, I know) there were many reasons for this. Firstly, you have to buy another ticket. Secondly, the line was very long wrapping all the way around the second landing. Thirdly, and most importantly, as many of you know I'm terrified of heights and, although I never felt unsafe due to there being guard rails and metal mesh over everything, the second platform was about as much as my constitution could take. So I headed back down, but at the second level I spent 20mins looking for how to get off the damn thing. With half of it shut down and just little skinny hallways to get to certain places the signs leading towards exits were misleading. I walked around in circles for at least 10mins before finding the only one of three staircases open to down traffic. I managed to find my way out and back to the Metro easily after that.