In preparation
for my trip to France and Germany, I read the historical novel
"Paris" by Edward Rutherfurd.
The story spanned many generations of characters. The storyline which fascinated me the most
was about a young man who worked for Gustav Eiffel. Since I came home, I have read up a little on
the Eiffel Tower and Gustav.
My first
surprise was that Gustav, a French civil engineer, built the Statue of Liberty
in 1881. Six years later, he began work
on the tower after buying the copyrights from the original designer. Of course the tower was named after Eiffel,
which I didn't know before reading the novel.
Many people opposed the construction.
We, writers, painters,
sculptors, architects and passionate devotees of the hitherto untouched beauty of Paris, protest with all our
strength, with all our indignation in the name of slighted French taste, against the erection … of this
useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower … To bring our arguments home, imagine for a moment a giddy, ridiculous
tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black smokestack, crushing under its barbaric bulk Notre Dame, the Tour
Saint-Jacques, the Louvre, the Dome of les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, all of our humiliated
monuments will disappear in this ghastly dream. And for twenty years … we shall see stretching like a blot
of ink the hateful shadow of the hateful column of bolted sheet metal.[8] Wikipedia
The tower
was built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle.
The contract stated that in 20 years time the tower had to be
dismantled. I can't envision Paris
without the tower. I am so thankful the
French government decided to let the beauty stand. In the early days, noted visitors included
Buffalo Bill Cody and Thomas Edison visited the site. I walked in the footsteps.
As for
myself, I marveled at the structure. I
have a fascination of beautiful bridges and the Tower did not let me down. Of course, I am afraid of heights, so at the second
floor, my nerves almost got the best of me as we wound our way around all the
metal to reach the elevator to the summit.
In the novel, the author talked about Eiffel taking the stairs to the
top everyday. I can't even imagine. I turned my head towards my husband's chest
not daring to look out.
I
cautiously took a step up to the windows at the top. My stomach would have leaped out of my throat
if it weren't as scared as myself.
Looking over the city, the beauty settled my fear. My family coaxed me to take the stairs to the
last landing at the very tip top. I
gazed into Eiffel's office. People
milled about making me a little jumpy, but I enjoyed the view. The drizzle of the rain was cold, so we
didn't stay very long. On the way down,
I felt 100 times better and enjoyed looking out the windows of the
elevator. I would definitely go up
again.
On our way
back to the hotel, I found fun art to take pictures of on our walk. I also caught a glimpse of George
Washington. What a fun day!
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