The best introduction to Paris on a clear day is from the second etage (“floor”) of the great symbol of the city, La Tour Eiffel (“the Eiffel Tower”). Though I took the elevator to le sommet (“the summit”) the other day, I could only see structures and hills very far away from the central city. My advice is to stick with the second floor for viewing the boulevards, churches, trees, the Seine River, and parks as though you were a gliding pigeon.
After you descend to the bottom again, my second piece of advice is to get a ham-and-cheese crepe in a paper cone at one of the street stands to the north. Your Parisian introduction is now complete.
Gustave Eiffel was born in Dijon, France. His last name was adopted by one of his ancestors (after their home region in France) since the French couldn’t pronounce the original German family name of Boenickhausen. This data is from Wikipedia . . . with my severe editing. Â
 
While attending high school, Eiffel felt that classes were mostly a waste of time. His mother’s coal business provided the family income and the funds for Gustave to earn a master’s degree in chemistry. After graduation, Eiffel’s uncle offered him a job at his vinegar works in Dijon. A family dispute killed the titan-of-vinegar opportunity, and Gustave accepted entry-level employment with a company that designed railway bridges.
Gustave originally offered to build his tower in Canada for the Universal Exposition of 1888, but the Canadians rejected the design. The Parisian structure was built 1887-89 as the entrance arch for the Exposition Universelle to mark the centennial celebration of the French Revolution. The tower was designed to be dismantled 20 years later.
Three hundred workers joined 18,038 pieces of puddled iron (a pure form of structural iron), using two and a half million rivets. The tower is an open frame with only two platforms, but Gustave used safety measures such as movable stagings, guardrails, and screens, so only one man died during construction. La Tour Eiffel opened on May 6, 1889.
The novelist Guy de Maupassant hated the tower, yet ate lunch at the tower’s restaurant every day. When asked why, he answered that it was the one place in Paris where he couldn’t see it.
You’ll see all nationalities waiting in line to buy a ticket for the first or second etage of the tower or le sommet, but all groups become a huge admiring human swath once shuffling along the guardrails. One cheery young man, perhaps a teacher, accompanying a group of teenagers, encouraged a reluctant student to ascend to the top, “Who knows? Perhaps the girl of your dreams is at up there!”
Whether you’re looking for the girl of your dreams, a view of Montmartre, or a chewy mash of hot ham and cheese wrapped in a slightly sweet crepe, Gustave’s tower is magnificent.
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