La Tour Eiffel
Trip Start
Jul 14, 2010
1
28
33
Trip End
Apr 26, 2011
Paris, Île-de-France, France
Saturday, August 21, 2010
I almost didn't go. I was tired and dehydrated from Versailles and almost begged off. Thankfully Edmundo managed to get me out the door and on the way. Our first mission was food so we began walking toward the Latin Quarter hoping to find some crepes to eat along the way. After finding three closed shops we ventured further into the hustle and bustle known as the Latin Quarter on Saturday night. Tourist and locals alike sit in little cafes and bars enjoying the food and company while others walk up and down the cobblestone streets, seemingly infused with Parisian energy, exploring the Quarter’s many shops.
We were finally able to order our crepes at a little hole in the wall place and, though it took a while, getting to watch crepes being made was worth it! We took our very hot crepes, mine cheese filled, to the Metro and headed toward the Tower. Along the way Edmundo came to the rescue of agroup of tourist girls who were trying to figure out the Metro lines.
After about a twenty minute Metro ride we climbed out of thestation and up onto the street. It wasdark outside because it was almost 11pm but the area was alive in spite of the suns absence. Streaks of blue shoot up into theair as vendors shoot off glowing toys into the recesses above the crowds. Neon Eiffel Towers sit next to goldenminiatures of the landmark on towels set out at intervals along the walkseducing tourists to bring a piece of Paris home. My eyes dart back and forth taking in as muchof the affair as possible, but then I rounded the corner.
There it was glowing golden against a Parisian night skymaking the full moon appear insignificant and cold next to its splendor: LaTour Eiffel. How can you describe theindescribable? She is elegant, she isstrong, she is beautiful, she is poetic, she is breathtaking. Standing there, in a crowd of mingledlanguages I held my breath, as dreams melded seamlessly into reality. A part of my mind almost refused to believethe truth but another part, a larger part, embraced the absolute wonder atbeing there. No longer would I have tobuy another’s view of the tower – I would have my own. I could barely make myself move forward butthe promise of better things to come encouraged my feet to shuffleforward.
We walked down sweeping steps to an expanse oflounging bodies dotting the ground. Bottles of wine were being freely passed around as thousands of peopleprepared for The Tower to come alive. Wedecided to pause in our journey to better enjoy the light show and took up ourplace on the cool grass. Edmundoretrieved our bottle of pink sparkling wine and our plastic cups. The cork popped seemingly in celebration of the occasion and we sip our wine and wait. Then at the top of the hour the tower begins to glitter and shimmer with golden light filling me with a sense of surreal awe. It is magnificent and I have no other way to describe it.
When the lights stop their dancing up and down the iron of the tower we continue our journey onward walking across the street and under its base. The streets were crowded and more blue streaks shoot toward the sky. When we reach the park on the other side of the tower we are drawn to a crowd gathered around a musician playing his guitar. As we waited to find our party we enjoyed the performance in the park and I even enjoyed a slow dance with my friend Edmundo. It was a wonderful moment in my life dancing there as the tower once again started shimmering against the night sky.
We found the rest of our party sitting some distance away enjoying the rest of their beer. We sat down and discussed the differences in our cultures as the four students were from Switzerland. After the drinks were finished we headed back to the Foyer by way of Metro. Naturally Edmundo's metro ticket didn't want to work so we had to sneak him onto the train and hope no one would ask for tickets!! The ride back to the Foyer was uneventful other than a group of about 6 very tipsy guys on the car in front of us busting out in song!
All in all it was a wonderful night and only helped me to fall even more head over heals in love with this city! I cannot wait to come back one day with someone special and dance once again under the shimmering lights of La Tour Eiffel!
