Eli Pardue
8/31/07
AP Lang Comp
LaMags

The Eiffel Tower

I have seen the Eiffel Tower only once. I remember when, and how I got there, and just about everything about that moment. It was the end of June, and My second to last day in Paris before leaving for Switzerland with my family. We walked everywhere in Paris, up and down the Seine, around the Louvre, and finally to the Eiffel Tower. It was not on my list of top things to do in Paris. I was much more interested in seeing Paris life as it went on everyday for the locals, not all the touristy places. I am positive the Eiffel Tower is on the list of the top five tourist attractions. So I held off going to the Tower. I had a preconceived notion in my mind that it would be the most amazing sight of my life, and that I would instantly be awed by its towering majesty, that I would be dwarfed by the unimaginable tons of steel that stood before me. When I finally stood next to the Tower, I was very, very disappointed. I felt like it was not tall enough, or that there was some flaw in the photographs and stories that dominated my understanding of what the Eiffel Tower really was. Perhaps it is that I had technically already seen it from afar while strolling in the city. Perhaps I would have been more impressed if it had jumped out of a shadow and shocked me, all at once. I think I was disappointed to know that the scene before me was not all mine, but I had to share it with all the other tourists. I figured out that all of it really was just for them; nothing more than a tourist attraction. The t-shirt booths and food stalls did not compete with the old beautiful sidewalk cafes, and in my mind, as I walked away across Champs de Mars, the lawn in front of the tower, I realized that the Eiffel Tower is American. It is English, Chinese, Japanese, and thing other than Parisian, because all of the Parisian culture ha\d been completely sapped from the place.