From Hollywood movies to my own logo, the Eiffel Tower crops up every time you think about France. After 127 years of watching over Paris, the Iron lady is still as majestic and fascinating as ever.
In this episode, we’ll quickly go over Eiffel tower’s facts and history, including few visitors tips!
C’est pas sorcier sur la Tour Eiffel
Le site officiel de la Tour Eiffel
Et toi ?
Have you ever visited la tour Eiffel ?
What good memories do you keep ?
Which other French monument would you recommend ?
Share your experience (in French if you dare!) in the comments below. We can all learn from your story. The comment section is the best place to start discussions and ask questions!
Bisous,
Géraldine
I visited Paris and Notre Dame Cathedral for the first time exactly 2 years ago this week! It just happened that there was a French chef pastry/bread competition taking place right in front of the cathedral! It was so exciting to visit & I was able to purchase a little sample to taste. Then I ventured into the cathedral. What a day!
I’ve visited both the Tower in Paris, and a former restaurant that was part of the tower, dismantled, and moved to New Orleans, Louisiana.
I was at la tour Eiffel on my first trip to Paris in 2012. And I loved it !
Ohh !!Geraldine thank you so much for all Your vídeos. I will finally visit Paris , a dream of mine for a long time to celebrate my 50′ and wedding anniversary . I been triying to refresh my two year French class , from my high school. Your videos have been an inspiration and fun to watch during my breaks at work .
My first lenguage is Spanish , so you are putting my brain to work harder in this Anglo / Latin translations . I know all your advice and comments will be very useful in my dream trip to France . Thank you for covering the Eiffel Tower briefly , I’m a bit obsessed with it have collected so many around the house. We are arriving via Orly at nite so I’m hoping I will see it lit first. Counting the days until April 10th . Please continue your postings about every day situations and proper etiquette ( the market one was a perfect example ) Shoping in boutiques , stores etc .. Love from VEGAS Mariel
Hola Mariel,
Voy a pensar en tí el 10 de Abril. 😉
¡Que tengas buen viaje!
The first time I went to Paris was in 1967. I was
a teenager and went with a good friend via the
school’s further education department. This
was great as we were at liberty to just wander
off on our own. Well, of course, our visit had
to include the Eiffel Tower, and I remember
being amazed at the sheer size of this structure
once you were standing at its base.
We made it to the second stage using the stairs
all the way, but didn’t bother taking the lift to
the top .. too many other famous places to rush
off and see !
And those other places ?
I think we walked the entire length of
the Champs-Elysées and then watched
a military parade at the Arc de Triomphe.
Very impressive.
Also there was the Louvre, where managed
to get “thrown out” for pulling out a packet
of cigarettes while standing in front of the
Mona Lisa. What an idiot, but at least the cigs.
were Gauloises 🙂
We did a lot of legwork that day, but we
charged around quite a lot on the Metro
as well … I was fascinated by the trains’
“rubber” wheels !
And by the evening we’d made it up to
Montmartre and the Sacré-Coeur …
very bohemian and the artists’ quarter,
all of which I thought was absolutely
wonderful.
And during the whole day, glimpses of
the famous Eiffel Tower from here, there
and everywhere.
At the end of it all we had to get back to the
Gare St. Lazare for the train back to the
ferry .. no Euro tunnel then !
To cap it all, for me anyway, was the
Frenchman at the station who helped us
to find our bags and who told us the
story of what had happened to him during
the war !! All brilliant stuff when you’re a
fifteen year old whose head is filled with
adventures.
It’s a long time since I’ve been up the
Eiffel Tower … perhaps I’m due for
another visit 🙂
Salut ..
John
I’m not suprised at all to read you were kicked out for a packet of Gauloises, John! 😀
I remember being at the top of the Eiffel Tower with my husband in the deepening twilight as the lights of the city began twinkling on like stars.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Gustave Eiffel
OCCUPATION
Engineer
BIRTH DATE
December 15, 1832
DEATH DATE
December 27, 1923
EDUCATION
College of Art and Manufacturing
PLACE OF BIRTH
Dijon, France
PLACE
I visited the Eiffel Tower for the first time in May 2014. I took the Métro and got lost, but eventually made my way there. When I came up out of the Métro, it was pouring rain. But it was such a view even in the rain and mist. Everyone was soaked but having such fun and best of all the reflections from the water on the sidewalks made my photo turn out just beautiful.
Voici une vue panoramique de Paris, à 360 degrés :
http://www.gillesvidal.com/…
L’appareil photo est au-dessus la Tour Eiffel. Magnifique !
J’avais visité la Tour plusiers fois. Toujours je la trouve tres belle. J’aime bien monter au 2eme ètage par l’escalier
J’aime aussi monter la tour de Notre Dame pour admirer Paris avec les gargouilles.
We took a quick trip to see La Tour Eiffel in March 2015. We had only one and a half days in Pairs and it was cold, windy and rainy. It was nearly dark when we arrived, but it was breathtaking! The next trip to Paris will include much more time and a meal there.
Geraldine,
Is it possible to print your vocabulary?. I showed one of your videos to 3 ladies all in their 80’s who are not connected to computers or smart phones. We have a weekly French study group where we try to use material written in French to expand our vocabulary and use French to expand our cultural knowledge. I would love to be able to use your lessons. Merci,
Bonjour Valerie,
I usually tell students to take notes, as it’s the best way to learn. 🙂
So this is why there’s no vocabulary sheet on the blog.
Merci for sharing, this is awesome.
AMO LA TORRE EIFFEL CUANDO. SCINTILA, SORRY POR ESCRIBIR EN ESPANOL. BISOU. GERALDINE.
Le premiere fois que j’ai visité la Tour Eiffel je ne pourrais pas allé jusqu’à la tour parce ce Le Pen etait lá pour faire une discours. Mais la prochaine fois je suis allé , j’ai acheté les billets sur internet et j’aime la vue beaucoup. Mais mon mari a besoin de les toilettes et il y avait une ligne pour descendre et il etait très inconfortable pour quelques minutes. En fin, tout était bien.
J’adore La Tour Eiffel! I never go to Paris without visiting it! The first time time I saw it I was riding in a taxi after being picked up at the train station. We were driving madly down the street and there it was…I was so excited! I have had both lunch and dinner at the second floor restaurant, Jules Verne. It is a once-in-a-lifetime treat. One leg of the tower has a special elevator that takes you to the restaurant and after your meal, there is a special door that allows you to go outside and walk around this level and then re-enter before going down the special elevator. Eight of us had a special Christmastime dinner there and it was actually snowing that night. Our dinner took over 4 hours and we got to see the tower sparkle four times that night!! We were all given a sample menunfor the night and it is a memory that warms my heart. The first year the Eiffel Tower had an ice skating rink, 3 of us went ice skating there. The rink is set up on the first level and is about the size of a big tennis court. We were there early in the morning and there was only one other couple there…two Japanese tourists. We had the whole place to ourselves and it was amazing…like our own private rink…à la Toir Eiffel. It is something I will never forget! When I taught first grade in California, I posted on a travel site, and people from all over America who visited Paris, would send us an ETower postcard…my class got so excited when we got one and we posted it on a special board for all to see. As a result, I now have both a postcard collection and have shared it with my French club. For Bastille Day, (what Americans call your 14th day of July)..I made 45 “gallettes
On our 1st trip to Paris we stayed near Les Invalides and of course went to the top of the Tour Eiffel. The view was breath-taking – not to be missed. On our 2nd trip we stayed near Jardin de les Plantes and it wasn’t till our last day that I realized how much I’d missed seeing the Tour Eiffel as part of our daily landscape. Friends of ours sent their nephew a postcard from Paris and told him they had climbed the Eiffel Tower. When they got home and showed him pictures of them climbing the stairs he was disappointed — he had pictured them climbing the outside ironwork, like King Kong.
Salut Géraldine
Merci bien pour ta vidéo cette semaine. Un fois j’ai visité les champs de mars avec mon mari, mais on n’est pas monté la tour Eiffel. Cependant, scintillant dans le ciel de nuit, elle est formidable vraiment. Je n’aime pas dire “la dame de fer” parce qu’il était aussi, en anglais, un nom de Margaret Thatcher !
Mon préfère vue de Paris est à la Sacré-Coeur. Peut-être je vais visiter la tour montparnasse ce Pâques – elle n’est pas belle, franchement, mais elle est très grande ! Et c’est prâtique, car on va voyager par train au gare du montparnasse.
La tour Eiffel a un rôle significant dans le film anglais “The Lavender Hill Mob”, une comèdie classique que je peux recommander. C’est très drôle.
À bientôt
Mais bien sûr, visitez la Tour Eiffel! Il faut aussi visiter le Jardin Des Plantes, le Musée de Cluny, le musée médicale de l’Université Descartes, Shakespeare & Company, Galléries Lafayette, Musée D’Orsay, Musée Carnavalet – et ce sont simplement pour commencer! On peut passer une vie entière à Paris…oh, et n’oubliez pas Le Louvre, Montmartre, le Champs Élysée et…………
?
Thank you for a fun video. A small item of note perhaps….in English the word Eiffel is pronounced EYE-full. And it is an eyeful truly.
oh! Didn’t know that! Thanks Sue.
J’ai visité Paris plusieurs fois, avec mon mari et nos deux filles. Une de mes visites préférées était à Noël. Le marché de Noël était sur la place du Trocadéro. Nous avions tellement de choses à voir. Les lumières du marché et La Dame de Fer la nuit étaient incroyables.
I have visited the Eiffel Tower several times, but only went up once — only to discover how disappointing I found Paris to be from above! All the buildings look the same, same style, same color. Paris life is definitely at the street level!
L’Arc de Triomphe est très beau, la vue en haut est magnifique. Les sculptures de l’arc sont très jolies. Il est une belle vue de Le Champs Elysée aussi.
Salut Geraldine.
ça va?
Je n’ai pas visité la tour Eiffel.
Je voudrais faire ça quelque jour, mais ne sait pas si sera possible.
J’ai aimé bien le video sur la tour Eiffel, très interessant et il ya beacoup de information technique que je ne connaissais pas.
Merci beaucoup pour partager avec nous cet formidable video.
À plus!
Raul.
J’ai visité la Tour Eiffel pendant ma première visite à Paris, en 1986!. Ce qui m’a étonné était sa taille à la base – beaucoup plus grande qu’on penserait. Et les ascenseurs dans les jambes de la tour. Le Sacré Coeur et l’Arc de Triomphe donnent tous les deux des bonnes vues, mais allez aussi à un parc élevé comme celui des Buttes Chaumont. C’est un de mes lieux favouris à Paris.
Il y a queque annes, je suis alle a Paris avec une amie. Ce souveniers sont tres precieux a moi. J’ai un drole experience a le tour de eiffel et je ne oubliras jamais cette fois. Aussi, a voir les architecture magnifique via un petit bateau sur le Seine avec tous les lumieres du la ville est un souvenier de la vie….Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur , la Louvre, seront toujours mes meillers souveniers.
Salut Géraldine,
Je recommande un excellent livre en anglais au sujet de l’histoire de la Tour Eiffel. Il s’appelle Eiffel’s Tower écrit par Jill Jonnes. Savez-vous que Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley et Thomas Edison étaient parmi les Américains célèbres qui faisaient partie de l’Exposition? Aussi je recommande monter jusqu’au sommet de l’Arc de Triomphe. La vue est formidable! Merci pour les vidéos!
J’ai eu la chance de visiter la tour eiffel pour la première fois en 2002! Pour dire vrai, ca a toujours été mon réve de voir la tour eiffel et le basilique de sacré coeur de près, non pas seulement sur les pages d’un livre! Cette année-là j’ai pu vister les deux monuments de mon réve et je dois avouer que cela restera le meilleur souvenir de ma vie. La vue sur Paris est exceptionnelle. Un jour, peut être j’aurai l’occasion de diner au troisième étage mais on me dit que c’est hors de prix et il faut reserver un an à l’avance!! Est-ce vrai?
Bonjour Josias,
Ca ne m’étonnerait pas que ce soir effectivement très cher. 🙂
Enfin je viens visiter en Avril. C’est un cadeau de mariage au mon pere. Vivant dans le ch’nord, pour presque cinq ans, Chez les Ch’tis, j’ai a jamais vue Paris, autre d’au le TGV, en passant en route à Roissy, ou ma belle soeur d’etre, en le Morbihan. Les pauvres Parisiens – Bien sur il trouvé mon terrible Francais, avec beaucoup de le dialect Ch’ti, et accent Ulster/Ecosse, un grand shoc! A bientot biloute.
Bon voyage, biloute !
Chère Geraldine,
J’étais là avec ma soeur et mes parents ~1953. C’était très impressive, mais j”avais pensé la tour Eiffel être une copie de Blackpool Tower où avant la guerre nous avons eu les vacances. J’avais tort. Blackpool Tower est la copie, mais le première Tour avec un sol de verre! J’adore vos videos. Merci beaucoup. A bientôt. Shirley. XX. ( Kisses because I am English!).
We visited Sacre Coeur first and I struggled to find the tower – it was a long way away and hidden by the trees – later on we took a boat trip on the Seine from La Louvre to the tower and, close up, we were a little disappointed – perhaps being so close the tower was foreshortened and because it tapers towards the top it looks smaller.
The view from Sacre Coeur was good – Paris is a much “flatter” city than London with its cluster of skyscrapers though I must say that Sacre Coeur was most impressive.
My partner, teenage son Ben and I went on the way home from a holiday on the canal du Midi. Ben is frightened of heights and until the last moment said he was not going up. Finally he plucked up the courage. At the end of the day he said it had been the best day of his life! A good day all round.
I agreed to go up the Tower with my husband on my 40th birthday despite not liking heights very much. We arrived at the first floor restaurant and when I saw how high we were I had a hugh panic attack, burst into tears and had to go down in the lift with my husbands coat over my head so that I couldn’t see! How embarrassing!
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wi… = nous aimons aussi ce viaduc de M. Eiffel. Ici au sud, c’est plus près et un bon moment quand on voyage vers le nord sur l’autoroute 75. C’est un peu comme les pieds de la tour Eiffel?
Je le visite quelqu fois. C’est impressionnant! A beaucoup de Parisien les indigne, disent qu’il une tas de fer en position vertical, «dame de fer»! … Moi Aussie, je préfère un tour a Trocadéro. Il a un grand phare lumineux qu éclaire tout el ciel de Paris et de ses environs . Je le peux voir de l’aéroport d’Orly. Mon meilleur souvenir est quand Mandela est mort il été allumée avec les couleurs du drapeau de l’Afrique . 😀
The Eiffel Tower is one of those places best seen at a distance rather than up close. It is disappointingly dull brown in the flesh, but I love the glimpses of it peeking out from between buildings at certain places on the RER or Métro, or from the plaza in front of the Australian Embassy for example. Place Trocadero is of course the best place to view it, and the sparkly lights are fun. If you are at Place Trocadero I highly recommend the Musée d’Architecture. They have excellent temporary exhibitions, a good cafe and a good bookshop.
J’ai visité plusieurs fois la Tour Effel, mais mes meilleurs souvenirs sont la célébration de la millénaire en 2000. Il y avait des milliers de gens mais les feux d’artifice étaient incroyables!! et je crois que c’est la première fois qu’elle étincelait!
J’ai visité la Tour Euffel plusieurs fois, mais ma meilleur mémoire c’est la célébration millénaire! Il y avait des milliers de personnes, mais les feux d’artifices étaient incroyables!!! Une de mes meilleures mémoires c’est que j’ai passé le millénaire à Paris!!!