One Night in Paris...Une nuit à Paris

This is a paper I wrote and just got back today, that I wrote for my feature writing class. I got an A- on the paper, I am so excited.

As I stepped off the metro platform, I was giddy with anticipation. I couldn’t believe I was about to see the infamous La Tour Eiffel, a sculpture that had decorated my bedroom walls, shelves and even the floor for years.

It was our first of three nights in Paris, and this was going to be my first stop. Talia and I had taken the metro from our hotel room in Montmartre. The area around Paris is roughly six miles and you can get to most places on foot. Since we were not too familiar with the language and we were in a foreign country, we thought it better safe than sorry to take the metro instead of walking. It was a long train ride with various stops and the changing of one train to another, but we finally made it.

As we exited the Champ de Mars-Tour Eiffel station, we hurried off the platform and up the steps, nothing yet. I was not sure how far away the Eiffel Tower was from the station, but I hoped it wasn’t too far. We walked past a cart selling all kinds of trinkets from Eiffel Tower t-shirts to Eiffel Tower key chains, a staple for any tourists. It was getting late so we hurried past the cart and across the street, following the crowd walking the same direction hoping they were going to the same place that we were. It was then that I looked up and saw it. “Oh my god, there it is!” I shouted, as Talia and I ran closer pulling out our cameras. I couldn’t stand still. I was in shock. We started snapping pictures left and right, and although my camera had broken a week before, it could still take pictures.

Still partially hidden behind some trees, the glow of the Eiffel Tower lights up the Parisian Sky, it was tres magnifique. I don’t even have to close my eyes to remember it. The image will be with me forever. Talia and I ran to the middle of the tower and were almost knocked down by a snake line of people on rollerblades. In 2007, the year I went, over 6 million people visited the tower, and in all its 119 years, 236,445,813 million people have visited the tower.

Still snapping pictures, we walked all around the tower. Unfortunately, it was about to close so we didn’t have enough time to go to the top. I regret not going to the top now, but the line was too long and we didn’t want to miss the last train back to Montmartre. Not to mention that my five-year-old nephew Garrett told me not to go to the top. I asked him why, and he said, “You might fall. It’s dangerous!”

According to Michael Peck, a fellow student and visitor to the Eiffel Tower himself said, “At the top of the tower people have signed their names. I wonder if they have painted over mine. I signed it in 1994.” That makes me wish I had gone up on the top, so I could have left my name up there.

Every three years the tower is painted to keep it from rusting. Some people admire the tower for its structure, which is something magnificent. For me though, I love Eiffel Tower for what it means to me. It means love, romance, mystery, suspense, something foreign, and of course it means Paris, the “city of lights.” For so long it was unattainable, something to only see in pictures or replicas and now it is a memory. I was there. Une nuit à Paris.

Across the street was the Tour Eiffel Carousel, brightly painted horses with children and young adults gathered round. Directly beside that, was the Seine River that runs through the center of Paris cutting it in half. I leaned over the edge and saw the river reflecting the glow of the tower. There are some things that will stay with you forever. It’s as Ernest Hemingway said, "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man (or woman), then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast." He is certainly right about that.

xoxo, am&a lynn ♥

*I am reposting this blog from two years ago. I hope you enjoy! Au Revoir!