I LOVE Eiffel Tower

Side story: I woke up unintentionally at 4.45 a.m. in time to watch the final 15 minutes of the match of Argentina versus Ivory Coast. It must be the metastasis (propagation) of muscle pain that woke me up. (Refer ‘to Trialing Specialist Report’). With my favourite Royce choc, ribena and kaya puff next to me, I lied like a pig on the couch and snacked.
At 5a.m. plus, Discovery Travel and Living Channel (channel 11 on astro) was showing COLLOSEUM in Rome, Italy. Now I really hope Patrick will remember to get me something nice from Rome. Collosseum is indeed a monumental engineering structure. Even engineers nowadays studied its intricate structure to build a more crowd-management-friendly and stronger stadium. Eiffel Tower (ET) Revealed at 6 a.m. was shown on channel 11 and I fell in love with ET even more after that!


Architecture and Figures
The building of ET began in 1887 and it took 200 men to build it. It cost 1.6 million dollars at that time (more than 80 million dollars in today’s world). The construction of the iron frame designed by Gustav Eiffel took 26 months. The base of the ET was below the water level of Seine River.
Unknown to most people, the four arches of the ET doesn’t serve as base but are purely decorative. The structure of ET was mathematically calculated to withstand strong wind and storm.

What could have been there
In 1789 the French Revolution took place and a republic was established. To commemorate this, a monumental mascot was needed. A competition was held and among the crazy ideas were:

-Giant Guillotine
-Giant Lighthouse
-Giant Water Sprinkler

Interesting Facts
The ET is painted in 3 different colours every 7 years by specially trained painters. To create illusion, the top part of the tower with the sky as the backdrop, is painted a lighter shade to compliment the lighter shade of sky.

After dark, the ‘iron lady’ lights up; there is a special sensor at one of the legs of the ET that tells her when to light up. The GOLD colour of Et seen is a result of chemistry between the paint and the light.

LOVE Affair
The chemistry also happens at the 3rd floor of ET. People can choose to get engaged there. What better place to propose to ‘the one’ rather than ET in Paris, a city known for its romanticism after all?

Recipe for Success
At the 2nd floor, there is a Jules Verne Restaurant. The really interesting thing is that if the gentleman is paying for dinner, the lady’s menu does NOT have price listing. I really like this fact for I will always do some mental calculation if my all-loving-charming-sweet-generous guy friend is paying for me.
To reserve a place, bookings must be done as early as 2 months before. According to the Chief Waiter, most guys popped the question in this restaurant and they always get a ‘YES’ from the ladies. ^_^

Love for Science
The 3rd floor was originally a lab upon the completion of ET. Upon close scrutiny, one can see that there are the names of the 72 famous scientists at the 3rd floor. A famous experiment was done by Gustav Eiffel to measure the weight resistance of objects of different shapes. He found out that the dome shape gives the strongest resistance and this shape leads to the development of parachute.
In 1898, a monumental change took place-the first radio transmission was sent from ET. Although it was foggy on that fateful day, the sound wave traveled undisturbed.

Hitler and Eiffel Tower
When the Nazis seized France during the World War II, Hitler wanted to own the ET initially. However, his mission didn’t turn out. He was known to utter these words, ‘Is this all? She is UGLY,’ upon seeing ET. However, there is a story behind that. It was said that the Frenchmen sabotaged the elevators before the arrival of Hitler; therefore, Hitler had no chance to go to the top. Fuming with anger, Hilter intended to bring the ET down to scrap. Fortunately that didn’t happen. =)

Imitations
‘Imitation is the greatest form of flatter’ holds true in the case of Eiffel Tower.
-Entertainment Centre in Blackpool, England
-Tokyo Tower in Japan
-‘Eiffel Tower’ in ‘Paris’ Las Vegas
-Statue of Liberty in USA
(the framework structure INSIDE it resembles that of ET because it was also designed by Gustav Eiffel)

Like the narrator of the documentary said at the end, ‘There is so much to the monument than meet the eye. Now that you know her secrets; she will NEVER look the same again.’
It is so TRUE in my case; I am confident that if I ever get to go Paris (that has been always in my wishlist), I will be able to appreciate Eiffel Tower even more. Just a side note, I may name my future daughter ‘Eiffel’. Call me think too far but I LOVE the name ok? Nobody fights with me!! =P

Note to kuan ching: Do remember to book the Jules Verne Restaurant 2 months before to give ‘ahem’ a night to remember ya! I am SO JEALOUS of you.