gratuitousness

i will continue my indulgence in paris for another post. this is one spectacular outlook from the very top of the eiffel tower. there is nothing over-rated about the tower at all - it is beautiful by day and night. it is little wonder that over 200 million people have visited this global icon since its construction just over a century ago. the only negative thing about it is that when you are up it, you are not looking at it. mands got a bit wiggy at the top because it is so high up, it took some convincing to get her up there. but she was glad she went up :)

i do love paris

i really really do. and i haven't even been there in the spring time. only in the autumn and the winter. but even then, and even on a grey cloudy day like the one in the photo, it truly is a beautiful city with so many wonderful sights and experiences. and so pleasant to walk around. it is little wonder that it is the most visited city in the world. the only thing going against it is that there are french people there. but aside from that, it is just simply delightful. i have been there twice and would go back again in a heartbeat. the third time i would stay in montemarte again as i did the first time, which is the 'arty district' up on the hill with steep cobblestoned streets near sacre de cour and the moulin rouge. mands and i saw don johnson (of miami vice fame) when we were in paris, he was staying in a hotel only 5 minutes walk from ours! i may have even taken this photo just before we saw him, as he was walking into a hotel bordering place de la concorde - a major square where this egyptian obelisk is situated, with the eiffel tower in the background. the oblelisk was a gift to france from egypt in the early 1800s - it is nearly 3,500 years old. don johnson is not as old as this, but he is even better preserved.

eyeful (of) tower

when in paris it is of course obligatory to take a (million) photo(s) of the eiffel tower. i thought i would try a slighty different angle than simply straight on (with mine and mands' faces goliath-like and seemingly bigger than the tower itself as i hold the camera, pointed towards us, at arm's length). if you click for the bigger version of this photo, you can see the many many many rivets holding these giant pieces of iron in place - there are 2.5 million rivets in the whole tower! that fact will hopefully come in handy for you in a trivia night one time.