It welcomes 7 million visitors each year, so for three weeks the Eiffel Tower must have felt good alone. Even the street vendors posted around it dropped it because of that damned Covid-19 that invaded France.
The Iron Lady is double-locked. There aren't many people left to pamper her. The restaurants are closed, work in progress stopped and the elevators stopped.
However, there is the service elevator, which the few employees on site use to move up and down. Because if the Eiffel Tower is in total containment, it must still be protected. Because it attracts this beautiful lady. Watch for possible intruders and the risk of fire. She is therefore not totally alone, but almost.
It is the absence of ambient noise which is fascinating and which contrasts sharply with the usual hubbub.
On the 3rd floor we hear the birds of the Champ-de-Mars sing. The buzz of the city has almost disappeared. The clarity of the atmosphere is unusual, photography enthusiasts would be happy.
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" The other day I crossed the Champs-de-Mars park to buy me a sandwich at the bakery" confides Alain, who happened to come across on the 3rd floor. " On the way I was attacked by pigeons ... They are hungry at the moment, it shows that they are not very wild" continues this director of TDF came to check the antennas of radio and DTT emitting from the top.
From memory, Alain has never known the Parisian monument so calm. “It happens that the Tower is empty, but seeing so few people is rare. What is most striking is the silence. Usually it's very noisy, there it's extremely quiet. "
With nearly 20,000 daily visitors on average, including 75% tourists from all over the world, the Eiffel Tower is one of the most visited tourist sites in the world.