Walking up to level two of the EIFFEL TOWER!

I may or may not have mentioned in previous posts that my coloc (roommate/landlady) has taken to referring to the Eiffel Tower as my "girlfriend." This is because a) I love it so much and b) it is too pretty to be my "boyfriend," despite the fact that its shape suggests a more masculine personification. I have got into the habit of taking a picture of it each time I see it from a new angle, and I've got quite a collection now. You can imagine, then, how exciting it was for me to finally TOUCH the Eiffel Tower on Wednesday when my friend Martha and I took advantage of the glorious weather and decided to take the stairs to the second level. Here is a beautiful picture that I took about a week and a half ago; the first level is partially hidden by the trees, so the second level is what you see just below where the tower continues as one piece rather than two. That's how high we went!

We waited in line for about 40 minutes to start the climb. The weather was so nice that there was actually a longer line for the stairs than for the elevators! Once inside, here's the view if you dare to look up: 

And here's the view to the side, on the way to level 1: 

Now, level one is pretty damn high. It doesn't take that long to get up there, but you really feel a sense of accomplishment when you do. Level one is 57 meters tall - I have no idea what that translates to in terms of a number of floors, but it's high. (You can see that from the picture above, in which I have not yet reached level one.) Once there, you can go 3/4 of the way around the tower before continuing up to level two. 

Here are a few views from level two, when we finally made it up. First is Trocadéro; second is the Champs de Mars:

And then here are the dizzying views of the rest of the tower:

I am not great with heights, but I did okay with this! I actually found it harder to go down - I think the faster pace (and the fact that you're looking at the ground) accounts for that. I was sore the next day, but it was TOTALLY worth it! Every time I've seen the Eiffel Tower since then, I've felt a huge sense of accomplishment at how high I climbed. The second level is visible from more than half the vantage points from which I've seen the Tower!