Spiral Staircase

The view from the Eiffel Tower is breathtaking. The vista it affords is just one of the reasons I loved visiting Paris for the first time last month. As far as I could tell, however, the famous landmark may be the only structure in Paris with an elevator. My bed was a six-floor climb up a spiral staircase. Montmartre looks charming from a distance but it's actually a torturous series of stairs. Spending a day at the Louvre feels like an Iron Man competition. Any one of these challenges wouldn't have posed a problem, but the cumulative toil they took on a chunky "Kansas City skinny" tourist was taxing. I've heard that cigarettes and wine keep Parisians trim. I know better.