Cliché it might be, but what would the City of Lights be without the brightest light of all?
Designed by engineer Gustave Eiffel and it's nicknamed La dame de fer, which means the iron lady. Since it’s unveiling for the World Fair in 1889, la Tour Eiffel as it's called in French, has attracted over 200 million visitors. Not bad for the ‘metal asparagus’ as it was so snidely called by its detractors who wanted to tear it down in 1909
If only they could see it today la tour Eiffel today...
Built to in remembrance of the French Revolution, the Eiffel Tower is 324m high, and, until it was overtaken by New York’s Chrysler Building in 1930’s, it was the tallest tower in the world.
The Eiffel tower was not a hit with the Parisians at first, most of them agreeing with William Morris' opinion. When asked why he was at the tower so frequently, designer William Morris exclaimed "Why on earth have I come here? Because it's the only place I can't see it from."
Despite its rocky start, the Eiffel Tower is easily the most recognized and iconic construction in the world.
It gradually worked its way into the hearts of visitors and Parisians alike so these days it doesn’t provoke so much controversy but instead has been transformed into a symbol of modern and elegant Paris.
The Eiffel tower opens 7 days a week, visitors can choose to earn the fabulous view by climbing the stairs or cheat and hop in the elevator. If you choose to walk up, the admission is about 30% less than taking the elevator all the way.
In order to avoid the gigantic queues (at worst a 2 hour wait) it is best to arrive early (9am) or late as the sun is going down.
Also in Eiffel tower you will find a café, souvenir shops, an exhibition place and the very exclusive yet delicious Jules Verne restaurant. If you visit late, hang around for the incredibly kitsch yet wonderful light show that lights up the skies of Paris every evening.
If you visit in the good weather, and don’t mind batting away the souvenir sellers, the Champ de Mars is a lovely place to lounge, eat a picnic and enjoy the incredible perspectives of la Tour Eiffel.
Back in the 1980s two Kiwis, AJ Hackett and Henry van Asch, met whilst skiing in Wanaka, New Zealand, and discovered that they were both adrenaline junkies.
AJ had recently seen a video of a group called "The Dangerous Sports Club" who were based at Oxford University about a decade before. The video showed the students attempting some experimental jumps inspired by the Vanuatu tribe in the Pacific who had been throwing themselves from a great height with only vines attached to their feet for centuries.
This video of "The Dangerous Sports Club" set AJ's imagination on fire and he convinced Henry that this could be developed further so the two set about developing and testing Bungy cords with the help of Auckland University scientists.
They both agreed the adrenaline rush you got from a Bungy could spark a trend for extreme sports. After testing some cords for their strength, the boys did their first extreme jumps from a ski area gondola in France.
Once the safety of the jumps was confirmed, AJ and Henry decided that they needed to show the public how much faith they had in their newly-created Bungy ropes.
They decided to attract the world's attention by doing a Bungy Jump from the Paris Eiffel Tower in June 1987.
AJ managed to get up the Eiffel Tower and slept there overnight. In the morning, bright and early, he Bungy Jumped down off the tower. The police were waiting and he was arrested only to be released again a few minutes later. The jump became a top news story all over the world and so Bungy took off.