Varsovie

I just learned that the Trocadero Fountain at the Chaillot Palace, across the river from the Eiffel Tower, is more formally known as la Fontaine de Varsovie (the Warsaw Fountain), named for the Polish capital city. The intersection between the fountain and bridge across the river is named Place de Varsovie. I wonder if the name originates from the Universal Exposition of 1878? My exhaustive quick and dirty research didn't turn up any information to explain it.

I took this photo in the spring of 2009. Friends and I planned to go up into the tower, but it was closed because of a strike.

The current fountain dates from 1937, the original having been removed during the reconstruction of the Chaillot Palace and gardens in preparation for a special exposition that year. The fountain is big, and it's quite impressive when the water cannons are operating, which they're not in this photo (but you can see them in the lower right corner).

The view is quite popular from the terraces of the Chaillot Palace (behind me), across the fountain and the Pont d'Iéna to the Eiffel Tower, then along the Champs de Mars to the École Militaire and beyond to the Tour Montparnasse.