Huge iron pylons twisted above my head connecting into the first floor. I was in awe-struck. Standing in front of me was one of the worlds most well known buildings in the world.
If you didn’t already guess standing front of me was the Eiffel Tower. The tower constructed by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Universal Exposition was more ginormous and regal-looking than in the pictures I have grown up seeing. Pictures simply don’t do it justice. We had seen the Eiffel Tower looming out of her curtain of clouds on our way to Versailles, but being able to see the Eiffel Tower lit up was truly a feeling like no other.
Water dripped on my head from the Eiffel Tower’s first floor hundreds of metres above my head. Dripped on by the Eiffel Tower, surely that must be some sort of achievement? Tickets were soon checked over and security checks finished. Little did we know shortly, we were squeezing into the large lift to head up to the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. I’m sure we could have set a Guinness Book Record or something for the most people squeezed into a elevator. The ascent was quick but it felt like hours, something about being pressed up against your mother and wet umbrellas creating marks on your pants wasn’t very appealing.
Fresh air stung my cheeks, wind whipped my air and I constantly being dripped on but I couldn’t be happier. Why? I had a 360 view of Paris, my family were admiring the view and I was accomplishing a major life goal of mine while I was on this trip of a lifetime. Words can’t really explain the feeling that came over me. Happiness, maybe? Sheer joy? I don’t know maybe so many emotions were running through me that I simply couldn’t identify the right one?
Pictures had been taken. The Eiffel Tower had gone all out on their Christmas display this year, it was complete with frosty, fake snow. Now all we had left to do was wait for when the doors opened for dinner. Emotion flicked across my families’ faces like watching a film at the cinema, I sure my face perfectly mirrored the same reactions.
Walking around the complete circumference of the tower, discovering that it had passed six-thirty without even realising it we jumped in the line for the restaurant, ravenous for dinner. Twenty minutes later, the meals had been ordered and drinks were being sipped. Our entrée quickly making it way towards us by the perfectly organised waiters precession delivering our meals in the blink of a eye. Ravenous we all tucked in. My entrée of chestnut soup went down well, warming my body from the inside out.
Laughter filled the air, main meals eaten. The children had a simple main meal and menu. The main course consisting of a simple choice, chicken or fish. The adults menu including myself had a large array of scrumptious meals to choose from. I went for something I knew, sea bream and salad. However the other meals looked fit for royalty which was fitting after our trip to Versailles today.
Dessert was next, I had Millefeuille and the translation in English of this is vanilla slice. I had tried a large array of pastries during my time in France but this was really the bomb. It was scrumptious, thin layers of pastry coated in thick vanilla custard. The pinnacle of deliciousness. Dinner was soon over. Choruses of ‘Merci’ filled the subdued air as we thanked the waiters for such a lovely meal.
Stair after stair after stair. Flight after flight after flight. Where were we? Still on the Eiffel Tower? Yes, we were still on the tower and we currently trudging up the three hundred stairs to the second floor. The wind was powerful almost knocking us off course. Isla and I had decided on a rule, two flights of stairs then break. This might not seem like much but with the steep, soaked stairs, climbing was certainly a challenge. Alastair’s joyful shout of “Where at the top!” sounded like a melody to our ears. The boys were one flight above us, not much longer to go.
The second floor greeted us, the view was amazing, we could even watch a soccer match from up here! Mum and Dad were much further down, Mum was always going to find this hard. We started to sing “Just keep climbing, just keep climbing, just keep climbing!” A parody of Finding Nemo’s Dory’s line in the movie, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming!” This gave Mum the confidence to reach the top. The glittering lights on the Eiffel Tower signalled that it was nine o’clock, after a failed attempt to go to the very top, it was decided that because we were fatigued, wet, cold and miserable that it was time to head home.
After one amazing night I still can’t believe that happened and I am so lucky. Dinner on the Eiffel Tower was certainly something else.
