Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Gratuitous Eiffel Tower Pix

How can you go to Paris and not snap several photos of the Eiffel Tower? I certainly can't. It's my favorite monument. So here we go.

Boats on the Seine. Tower in the distance. What's not to love?

Can you stand it or what? I don't know about you, but I just love the tower from every angle, in every light condition. These were taken in the mid-afternoon, on my walk from the Tuileries to the Grand Palais, on a Friday afternoon in late May.

Tower and leaves.
Very similar to the first picture I ever took of la Dame de Fer.
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7 comments:

  1. Susan11 June, 2008 13:25

    This is the best way to see la Tour - up close I'm afraid she is a very disappointing brown.
    Susan

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  2. Muzbot11 June, 2008 14:03

    Your recent posts are tugging at my heart strings. I love Paris in the summer and would LOVE to be there right now. Who am I kidding, I LOVE Paris in any season. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. wcs12 June, 2008 07:43

    susan, I've read that the paint is a variant of the color bronze. Three different shades of the color are used to ensure that the tower looks the same from bottom to top. The darkest shade is on the bottom and the lightest is up on top. They adopted the current color in 1968 after trying out various others.

    muzbot, thanks! I, too, enjoy the city in all its weather. Even dark and rainy, when the lights reflect off the pavement and the cafés and boutiques all glow from the inside.

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  4. Susan12 June, 2008 10:00

    Walt - yes, it is at least two different colours, graduated to enhance the height of the structure, but bronze it is not. It may be intended to look like bronze but the best that can be said of the actual colour is that it is milk chocolate colour :-) I was told by an English architect/historian in Paris that the next time it is painted they are going to use some newfangled system where the colour graduates minutely all the way up, so you can't see the join where milk chocolate becomes dark chocolate. The technology to make this possible is quite new.
    Susan

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  5. chrissoup12 June, 2008 17:42

    Regarding les artichauts in your NEWSINESS section: when we were in Italy, we noticed that home gardens had, literally, dozens of artichoke plants. It seems that's the only way to get enough to bother with. I gave up on them because we just don't have the space. You do, if you can figure out how to pay for them.

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  6. susan13 June, 2008 03:17

    You might not have a lot of artichokes, but just think how delicious the few you have will be!

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  7. Anonymous13 June, 2008 06:37

    I too love the Eiffel Tower, from a distance, up close, with her head in the clouds or at night. I can never get enough ;)

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