peur

dessus du reste

Smith: "No, it's a [funicular]. An elevator can only go up and down, but the [funicular] can go sideways, and slantways, and longways, and backways..." 

Maddie: "And frontways?"   
Smith: "...and squareways, and front ways, and any other ways that you can think of..."

 I have a very strange tendency to make insightful conclusions about myself at the most inconvenient or inappropriate of times. Strangely enough, these conclusions are always confirmed while participating in activities I have already previously assessed I have doubts or negative feelings for. A prime example: having a gut-wrenching, phobic reaction while on the funicular moving people to the very top of the Eiffel Tower. Having already known prior to getting on the funicular that I have a strong aversion to heights, piers, and butterflies, does that exclude me from immediate membership into the world-wide community of acrophobes?  

A bonified a la Maddie moment, courtesy of moi.

Don't worry folks. A quick bout of fear tears, hyperventilation, hysteria, and a trip to my mind palace had me remembering that when it was all over, it would be okay. 
Smith said she would buy the class pastries.

But in all seriousness, even acrophobes can't look at the Eiffel Tower and not appreciate its history and legend as an architectural masterpiece (looking up though, standing on beautifully solid ground). Constructed for the World's Fair in 1889, the Eiffel Tower had not been built to remain as a permanent fixture in the Parisian skyline. It was originally intended to be torn down. However, its utilization as a radio tower  in the 1920s saved it from its demolition.The Tower's lightweight truss construction is a feat of engineering might, and stands as an example of one of the last great symbols of French engineering.