The Eiffel Tower Through a Metro Window

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The Eiffel tower

For most people, when you think of Paris you get an image of the Eiffel tower. This iconic structure has now soared above the Champ de Mars for over 120 years. Not bad for a temporary installation.

The first time I visited Paris it was the first place I went. I dropped my bags at my hotel, grabbed a camera, and took off into the tunnels of the Metro system. I was in awe of it then, and I'm in awe of it still.

Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nougier, two engineers working for Eiffel's engineering company came up with the initial design as a centerpiece for the 1889 World Fair held in Paris.

The City of Paris granted Eiffel a 20-year operating permit for the tower after which, in 1909, ownership of the tower transferred to the City. The original intent had been to dismantle the tower but by then the tower was a key communications center.

Of course, for us, the tower has always been there, always been a symbol of the City of Lights. It's hard for me to imagine the city without this iconic structure. Yet, when it was under construction, “Artists against the Eiffel Tower” protested its overshadowing of other Paris landmarks.

Paris Metro

The first Paris Metro line opened on July, 19, 1900. The Eiffel Tower is a short walk from the Bir-Hakeim station on Line 6.

I took the photo from a Metro train as it crossed the bridge over the river Seine between the stations of Bir-Hakeim and Passy.

Named the Pont de Bir-Hakeim in 1948, to commemorate the action of the Free French forces at the Libyan oasis between May 26 and June 11, 1942, the bridge was formerly the Pont de Passy. The Metro station was previously named Quai de Grenelle.

When I lived in Paris, my apartment was about a mile to the southwest of the Bir-Hakeim Metro station. However, unlike the movie trope, I did not have a view of the Eiffel Tower from my apartment windows.