Double Wrench

 

We’ve been to France several times, but never to Paris. Unless, of course, you count the Charles de Gaulle Airport. We’ve wandered aimlessly around Honfleur, got hopelessly lost trying to find the Dunkirk McDonalds, very nearly made it to the LDS chapel in Le Havre, and spent several unforgettable days at Disneyland Paris (which is nowhere near Paris). We might have enjoyed visiting the Louvre or Notre-Dame, but somehow, we never actually got around to going. That might have changed if we’d known a decade ago that you can visit Gustave Eiffel’s apartment at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Like Walt Disney’s digs on Main Street, USA, Eiffel had a pied à terre a thousand feet in the air. Walt’s apartment was 500 square feet; Gustave’s was 1074 (minus the elevator shaft). Neither had space for a bedroom, but there is a piano in the Eiffel Tower apartment. Eiffel couldn’t really sleep there, but he could have played Debussy.