Eiffel Tower – Been There Done That

I have seen the Eiffel Tower in every possible place but in real life. It is in books, movies, advertisements, television and its face is recognizable anywhere. It is part of every Paris tour. That is how I got there. I signed up for an excursion from London. We got up at 4:30 in the morning and took the Euro Star through the “chunnel”.

I loved Paris as a whole. I think I liked the city better than London. I know that is sacrilegious coming from a WASP from the Deep South. Most of my ancestry came from the British Isles, so when I say that Paris was prettier than London, I do so quietly. We did a bus tour before we got to the Eiffel Tower.  We had a young guide who was good at laughing at his own jokes, but little else. He put the bus full of us out and said “Go up the tower, get something to eat and be back in an hour and a half. Obviously, he like us, had not done this much.

I had heard all the tales about pickpockets who made their whole living at the Eiffel Tower. We had already encountered a horde of them at the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace, so we were not quite as naïve as we would have been. People from rural Southwest Alabama are naturally trusting. We think because we like everybody, they are going to like us, too. Furthermore, if you like somebody, why would you bother their stuff? Nobody that I ever heard of in rural Southwest Alabama makes a living as a pickpocket. There are good reasons why. One is that if they got caught doing it, whoever they were hitting on wouldn’t wait for the police, they would beat the living hell out of the pickpocket on the spot. Plus, since everybody knows everybody else, they’d tell the whole town and that would be the end of the pickpocket career. Reason two is that very few people carry enough cash to make this form of thieving profitable. There are a few kleptomaniacs around scattered in the general population, but since everybody knows who they are, including their families, items taken are quietly returned, so nobody beats hell out of them.

The pickpockets at the Eiffel Tower are a whole different breed. In fact, they are several breeds. There are the run of the mill pickpockets who sell souvenirs out front. They work in groups so that one can distract you while the others surround you. The one nearest the pocket will strike so quickly your never know what hit you. The thing to do is stay with your own group if you are a tourist. The other pickpockets mingle with the crowd on the tower itself.

I had only one companion with me on the Paris trip. The others in our party had done Paris last year and spent the day shopping London. The two of us tried to follow the instructions about going up and finding something to eat after a look at the city. The entire day tourist population of Paris had the same idea. With our limited time and threat of being left behind, we decided to forgo lunch. It took 20 minutes to get in the bathroom which had a traffic director letting you in 3 at a time. WE couldn’t even find the way to the elevator, so we decided to walk down. Walking down the Eiffel Tower is a bad move. Remind yourself never to do it, given any other option other than jumping. It didn’t seem too bad at first, until we got surrounded by a group of 4 girls going very slow. Apparently, they, too were in the pickpocket business. When it dawned on me, I said to my companion. “Go around them. Start walking fast and don’t ask any questions.” We took off at a gallop. Put that on your list of things not to do at the Eiffel Tower. The girls sped up, too and a couple passed us. WE saw them coming back up shortly. They passed us and went to look for new tourists. Who goes back up the Eiffel Tower, for goodness sake, except someone up to no good? Going down is hard enough. I was making pretty good time, so I hazarded a look toward the ground. It scared me good. It made me realize how far I still had to go as well as how far up I still was. We made it down in time to load the bus. I didn’t realize the full impact of the walk down until the next day. My legs have never been so sore. For three days, I felt every bend and step I made in a bunch of places I didn’t even know existed.

Luckily, our next stop was on a barge to travel down the Seine. We got to sit the whole time on it. I think the barge ride was my favorite part of the day. I don’t know whether it was for the scenery or for the chair I sat in.

We still hadn’t had lunch and it was 4pm Paris time. We got to the Louvre and went to find something to eat. It took practically the whole time allotted to eat at Marley’s, their most famous café. We got to sit down there, too. I saw very little of the museum itself. I really felt like I missed a great experience. I intend to go back there and back to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London before I die. I really felt like that death could be imminent for the few days after walking down the Eiffel Tower. Been there. Done that –mark it off my list of things to do!