Nathan Paulin, a French slackline walker, stunned Parisians on Sunday as he made it across a 600-meter-long rope above the Seine, strung between the Eiffel Tower and the Chaillot theater. At a height of 70 meters, and secured by a safety lanyard, Paulin walked the stretch in 30 minutes and even performed some stunts.

The 27-year old highliner suffered from a fear of heights when he was a child, but overcame it when he started out on the slackline ten years ago. He's previously crossed the Seine and holds several world records. This year's challenge took him four years of practice and marked France's annual Heritage Day, when monuments and buildings usually closed are opened to the public. Obtaining the necessary permissions had been difficult, Paulin said. But the hardest part was "the stress linked to the audience", as hundreds of people gathered below to watch.

His motivation? "Mainly to do something beautiful and to share it."

More pictures below