The first time I heard about Paris’s latest attraction was when my cousin tagged me in a post on Facebook. Informing me I could now take a zip line from the Eiffel Tower, my cousin was hoping I may test the experience out for her. I was not so easily sold.
Installed on the second floor, the zip line starts halfway up the 324m-high structure, offering daredevils a bird’s eye view of the City of Love before they whiz off to fly over the Champs de Mars gardens, finishing at a purpose-built platform in the park.
Reaching speeds of up to 90km/h, the whole ride is over in around a minute – having traversed about 800m. It’s not for the faint-hearted and riders must wear helmets before launching off the 114m-high platform.
Designed to replicate the speed of tennis balls when ‘smashed’, the concept was the brains of French Open sponsor Perrier.
Not one to be beaten, across the channel London welcomed its own zip line in early July. Promising to be the world’s biggest and fastest zip line, Archbishop’s Park allows adrenaline junkies to hurtle 225m at speeds of up to 80km/h.
With a bird’s eye view of the London Eye, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and the Shard to name a few – anyone can book tickets if they’ve a spare 40 minutes and the courage to leap from the 35m tower.
What do you think of this new way of seeing a city? Would you take the leap? Or how about the one in the video below?
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