Eiffel Tower Anti-Terror Fence

I appreciate why they are doing this… but am glad I have my “before the wall” memories … :relaxed:

Have you made it to the top ???

Went to the top when I was in my early teens but it didn’t fill me with a lasting sense of affection for the Tour. Rather more impressive than that monstrous cartwheel in London. Maupassant hated it with a passion. "…the French writer and master of the short story genre Guy de Maupassant, who was among the artist protesters, apparently never accepted the tower and its presence. Defeated by the tower and annoyed by its immense popularity, de Maupassant couldn’t stand the sight of his “iron arch nemesis,” which seemed to follow him whenever he wanted to stroll around the center of Paris. At last de Maupassant thought of a safe place where he could avoid the tower that he obviously despised so much: underneath the Eiffel tower itself. Every day, he had lunch at the tower’s base restaurant, just because “inside the restaurant was one of the few places where I could sit and not actually see the Tower!”

1889 Source:Wikipedia/Public Domain

OH hates heights, so he always stayed with his feet firmly on the ground.

In those long ago days, there was no queue (as I recall)…if we were in the area I would simply stroll over, pop in and eagerly go higher and higher…

Finally up above everything, for me it was a wonderful feeling… looking out across the city… outstanding view…

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In those days, you could actually see a long way, unlike with the polluted skies now.

Yes, I suppose it’s changed now… I’ve wandered around the Eiffel Tour in recent years, but not gone up due to the huge queues… so I am a bit behind the times re polluted skies.

I’ve been up the tower several times, the first when I was about 5 years old and the most recently in the early 2000s. I can remember the first time and it was much, much quieter than the more recent visits. I’ve been up to the second level each time, it was not possible to go higher. Perhaps it’s because I’ve often visited in the autumn, but I’ve never experienced poor visibility, quite the opposite in fact. I always notice how Montmartre rises above the city. The crowds would put me off making it a priority on another visit to Paris.