Bonjour,

On our first evening in Paris, we were on our own. We decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower which was only about fifteen minutes from our hotel. I anticipated crowds of people but I was not prepared for what we encountered. The whole walk there and around the tower, the atmosphere had the look, feel and sound of a county fair or carnival with barkers, hawkers, scammers, garbage everywhere, and in general, somewhat of a circus. Nothing in our experience indicated a ‘world class tourist attraction’. But we stuck it out and enjoyed it, despite the hectic, noisy, and bizarre atmosphere. We also encountered a large mass of protestors, though we never learned what it was they were protesting. The police came and we headed back to our hotel.

Over the course of our week in Paris, I came to appreciate the Eiffel Tower as my favorite landmark in Paris. It seemed to change throughout the whole day. It was also the primary landmark for orienting ourselves to where we were in Paris. Often times as the streets wound around and curved about, we were unsure exactly where we were. But then we would find the Eiffel Tower and know just where we were. That always gave us some comfort.

The Eiffel Tower was named after the engineer whose firm designed and built it, Gustave Eiffel. It was built in a little over two years and finished in 1889, just in time to be the entrance arch for the 1889 World’s Fair. It was designed to last for 20 years but many people and artisans didn’t like it from the start. But over the years, it provided many other critical uses such as a tower for radio transmission and lookout during World War II. Eventually, it became the tourist attraction that it is today and a symbol of Paris with something like seven million visitors a year.

1. This is the tower from the Champ de Mars on our first morning in Paris.

2. We were walking to the tower our first evening in Paris when we decided we had to get off the main path and away from all the barkers and scammers. We wound our way towards the tower and eventually ended up where you see this photo. We were shocked to be so close to the tower with so few people around us.

3. We spent parts of several evenings at places with views of the tower. It was quite an event for people, just viewing the tower.

4. This is east of the tower and again, the Eiffel Tower was always a landmark for us wherever we were in Paris.

5. I usually close with a sunset photo, and I took some, but this was perhaps my favorite photo of Vicky and I in Paris.

Voila,

Bill