A pair of best friends visiting Paris, France, had been hoping to capture a picture of themselves against the iconic backdrop of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night, but forgot one important detail.
Jac Eisdorfer and Ashley Brooke visited Paris back in November, as part of a much-needed girl’s trip that was sandwiched in between their hectic work schedules.
Europe is an increasingly popular option for vacationing Americans. An analysis of booking data conducted by travel insurance provider Allianz Partners said that the number of Americans traveling to Europe in 2024 was on course to be 34 percent higher than the previous year’s. Paris is particularly popular, with the French capital ranking second in the same study’s list of the top 10 most popular Summer European Destinations, just behind London.
Brooke is an actress, singer and dancer who recently starred as Margot Frank in the Emmy-Nominated Disney+ series A Small Light and has a variety of television and Broadway credits to her name. “I started my career at 7 years old and, since then, have played all sorts of roles onstage and on-screen,” she told Newsweek.
Eisdorfer, meanwhile, is a Rutgers University postdoc with a Ph.D. in bioengineering, biomechanics, and neuroscience. “My research examines movement after spinal cord injury [paralysis] using unsupervised computational modeling [AI],” Eisdorfer told Newsweek.
Though their professional lives could not be more different, the two friends regularly come together on social media to post content on TikTok under the handle @nonsensewaffles.
Eisdorfer said they started posting as an excuse to spend more time together. She added: “We laugh so much when we’re hanging out, and we felt our relatable, funny experiences would be enjoyed by others.”
One of those experiences came during their visit to Paris. “Jac was invited to an event by a friend in London, which prompted the trip,” Brooke said. “We decided to also go to Paris because both of us love the city and it is easily accessible by the Eurostar [train].”
They had both been to Paris before, so largely avoided all the usual tourist destinations like the Louvre or Musée d’Orsay. “We wanted to enjoy things we hadn’t had a chance to before,” Brooke said. “We went to Ô Chateau for wine flights, Fotoautomat au Palais de Tokyo for photo booth photos, and Le Marais to shop at boutiques and thrift stores.”
Though they did end up taking in the Champs-Élysées, it wasn’t until their final night that they decided they wanted to visit Paris’s most famous landmark, albeit with one specific caveat.
“Ashley wanted to see the Eiffel Tower at night and had been talking about the twinkling lights for a long time. So, on our last night, we went,” Eisdorfer said.
Because they were staying further out of town and not close to any Paris Métro stops, which is the city’s equivalent of the subway, they decided to take a taxi there.
Unfortunately, what the friends failed to factor in was the time. So, when they arrived at the Eiffel Tower for their big moment, they were stunned to realize it was late and the lights had been turned off.
“Unfortunately, we tried to ‘save the best for last’ and go see the twinkling lights on our final night. We thought we would round out the trip with a bit of magic. Rookie mistake,” Eisdorfer said.
“We are so used to New York City that we had no idea things would shut down at night,” Brooke said. “We were super bummed, but also laughed about it in the next moment because, of course, we would do something so silly,” Eisdorfer said. “The important thing is that we were together,” Brooke added.
It was Brooke who decided they should document what happened in a TikTok. “It was prompted by accidentally recording Jac’s face when we were walking around the dark Eiffel Tower,” Brooke said. “I just thought the whole thing was so funny and relatable.”
The resulting video captures Brooke and Eisdorfer taking in a decidedly dark-looking Eiffel Tower at close proximity and ends with Brooke, who appears crestfallen, holding a flashing model of the monument.
Despite the Eiffel Tower’s no-show, they did manage to get a picture of themselves with it in the background the next morning. It might not have been what they wanted, but their trip to the Eiffel Tower ended up being an unexpected highlight.
“Sometimes, laughing at mistakes makes for the best memories,” Brooke said. Eisdorfer added: “When we look back at our trip decades from now, we will remember how much we laughed over not taking 5 minutes to Google if the Eiffel Tower shuts down at night.”
