Photo du Jour : La Tour Eiffel

I'm a little behind in my writing, what with our trip to Paris on Wednesday and some other social obligations. Here's a little teaser, though, for the upcoming walking tour:


You don't often see the Eiffel Tower taken from this vantage point in the guide books, or at least not with the towers of the Front de Seine complex in view. Just to the left of the tower's base (in this photo), on the downriver point of the Allée des Cygnes, you can see the pedestal of a statue but the statue is missing. This is home to a smaller version of the Statue of Liberty that was, when this picture was taken, being temporarily displayed in Japan. It has since returned. The bronze replica of Bartholdi's and Eiffel's larger statue in New York Harbor was the gift of Americans living in Paris in 1889 on the occasion of the Paris Universal Exposition - and the centennial of the French Revolution.