Eiffel Tower

Everyone knows the Eiffel Tower and though many Parisians feel far too superior to come anywhere as touristy, this is a place that you have to visit at least once. However familiar it may seem, when you actually see it, you still can't help but be amazed: by the patterns of ironwork particularly when seen from underneath, the close ups of the girders and the two and a half million rivets that hold them together as you rise up in the lifts. Gustave Eiffel's construction has long lost the status of tallest building of the world that it had when it was put up – originally as a temporary structure for the 1889 World Fair on the centenary of the French Revolution – but it is still a wonder of engineering, wonderfully useless and well worth the queues. Vintage double decker lifts take you up to the first and second levels where there's a display about the tower, souvenir shops, snacks and restaurants; you have to change lifts for the top level viewing platform.