You can't appreciate the size of the Eiffel Tower until you've stood under it. Seeing it at night is a different experience from seeing it in the day. It costs less than $10/person to ride the elevators to the very top. Most Paris landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower, are bathed in flood lights at night. That makes the landmarks easy to spot from the viewing platforms, and with the right instrument it's not hard to get a passable photograph.

We probably had more fun being there at night. Most of the other people there were either from a large Belgian school group that showed up (how'd you like to have gone to the Eiffel Tower on a high school field trip?), and lot of young couples and tourists trying to avoid crowds. We had great chats with some British tourists, and a 16-year-old girl from the school group. We took tons of photographs, but the digital shots are kinda dark and grainy - but passable. You have to change elevators on the second level, where there is a gift shop, toilettes, and a pay phone. We had a phone card that wouldn't work outside of France, in spite of being promised that it would. So we made a whole bunch of phone calls home from the Eiffel Tower.