Eiffel Tower's terrace reopens for post-pandemic partying

[July 10, 2020]  PARIS (Reuters) - Visitors to the Eiffel Tower can once more enjoy a drink and even dance on its summer terrace, which opened this week to stunning views of Paris under a warm, blue sky.

The tower shut in mid-March due to the coronavirus outbreak, its longest period out of action since World War Two, but re-opened to the public on June 25.

Its terrace, which sits 57 meters (187 feet) above ground, has a bar, can accommodate 300-350 people during DJ sets that will be every Thursday and Friday evening until Aug.28, said Patrick Branco Ruivo, managing director of the Eiffel Tower.

While all visitors to the Eiffel Tower are required to wear face masks and keep safe distance, few people at the opening event on July 9 wore them.

"It’s really nice, it’s hot so it’s the moment to party in the open air," said French student Mia Lahrich.

"I feel good and people are cool. I feel like I forgot the coronavirus," she said.

A view shows the Eiffel Tower in Paris on its reopening day to the public following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in France, June 25, 2020. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo

The Eiffel Tower usually gets about 7 million visitors a year, 75% of which foreign tourists. But with foreign travel yet to recover from restrictions put in place to slow the pandemic, most of the visitors in the near future are expected to be from France.

(Reporting by Melodie Sforza, Writing by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

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