Pont Alexandre III

We took the metro to Invalides intending to visit the Dome Church.

This Art Nouveau bridge was built between 1896 and 1900

Named after Tsar Alexandre III of Russia

We decided to go to the Notre Dame and Sainte Chappelle first instead.

Lunch at Iolanda Brasserie

We had our lunch at the brasserie near the tower.

Eiffel Tower : The Top Level

Taking the elevator to the top level is not for the faint hearted.

It was a scary ride to the top

The covered terrace

The open air terrace

It was very windy at the top

The tower can sway up to 9 cm in the wind!

We could measure our exact altitude

Eiffel Tower : The Second Level

The tower provides a 360 degrees view of Paris.

Palais de Chaillot

Arc de Triomphe

Dome Church

Champ de Mars

River Seine

La Defense

The business district of Paris

Monmartre

Eiffel Tower

This tower was built for the Universal Exhibition of 1889 and to commemorate the centennial of the Revolution. It was meant to be a temporary structure but survived to be the icon of Paris.

Taken from Architecture and Design

showing the height and elevation above sea level

The tower has three levels for visitors; the first, second and top levels. The top level is about the height of a 81-storey building.

Queuing for tickets

When we reached the Eiffel Tower, there was already a long queue at the tickets booth. I did not want buy the tickets on line until I was certain of our itinerary but by then all tickets were sold out.

We waited for about an hour

Under the tower 

The queue behind us was even longer

Palais de Chaillot

This Neo-Classical building houses several museums, a theatre and a cinema. We did not enter the building since our intention was to view the Eiffel Tower from the terrace because this is the place where you can get the best view of the Eiffel Tower.

We walked to the Eiffel Tower and took photographs of the tower along the way