Friday, November 24, 2017

Europe Day Thirteen - Eiffel Tower to Palm Trees

We woke early on our last day in Paris and rushed over to the Eiffel tower to get to our tour. When the guide finally got there the security line was super long.




While we were in the line he told us the history of the Eiffel tower and how it was only going to be temporary for the world fair. They were going to take it down until Gustav Eiffel decided that he wanted it to be permanent. The Paris government gave him 20 years to pay off the price of the tower which was 8 million francs and 40 million US dollars. Gustav only needed 2 years to pay the tower off and made a lot of profit well after. Also to keep the copper in the tower from getting patina (the effect that makes copper turn green from oxide in the air) they layer the tower 3 times with zinc every 8 years. Once we got through security we got to skip the line with our tour group and go straight up to the second layer.


The view of the city was better in the morning light than it was in the fog the night before and the tour guide told us more about the tower as we got to take pictures of the beautiful city of Paris in front of us.




We checked the clock and realized we had to get to the airport for our flight to Barcelona, Spain. At the hotel we grabbed our bags and got in a taxi to the airport. None of us wanted to leave this amazing city but we knew there was more to see ahead of us. The flight was only 2 hours but we had to be 2 hours early so when we landed in Barcelona it was 5 o'clock.  It was nice to see palm trees again as we drove to our hotel in a taxi.

Dad had to leave to meet some college buddies so we were on our own for the week. We cooked some pizza and pasta for dinner in our apartment before settling in for the rest of the night.
                                                     
                                                                    3.9 miles walked
                                                                           2 taxis
                                                                           1 plane

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