Destination 3 - Eiffel Tower, Paris

As Paris planned its International Exhibition for 1889, marking the centenary of the French Revolution, it held a competition to design a spectacular tower to stand at the entrance of the site on the Champ de Mars. Out of 700 entries, the design submitted by Gustave  Eiffel's engineering company was unanimously chosen for the project. Building began on January 1887, but not everyone welcomed the unmissable new landmark. It was the bolted metal construction that made the height of the new tower possible. Experience of building bridges had taught Eiffel that the most important consideration was the strength of the wind, and the shape of the curved pylons was developed so that at any height the downward force was equal to the force of the strongest wind at the point.

There were formidable challenges. The pillars on the riverside had to be supported by air-compressed foundations in the underwater steel caissons, and Eiffel devised a system of hydraulic jacks to position each foot at the correct angle to meet the horizontal beams on the first level. The iron  components weighing a total of 7300 tons, were assembled in Eiffel's workshop and bolted together on site. The tower open on 31 March 1889.

Now it is carefully preserved, and every seven years 25 painters set up safety nets and harnesses and repaint the whole structure, starting from the top and painting by hand using brushes. The whole job takes 18 months. The original colour was reddish brown, but red  has also been used and even yellow; since 1968 the paint has been ' Eiffel Tower Brown', specially mixed to blend with the cityscape and applied in there shades - darker at the bottom and lighter at the top to give a consistent appearance.

The individual ticket price is between 3.00 euro to 14.00 euro it depend on age and ways to go up there either by lift or stairs.

Eiffel Tower night view

Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower