Myself, Grand Dude, and Grand Jean in front!
Grand Jean and I in front of the Eiffel Tower!
The awesome French architecture!
Zee Tower itself!
There were interesting names on the side of the tower-- I think they may have some of the same names as are on the Arc de Triomphe, which we also visited. (pictures later...) Does anyone know what they are, stand for, or mean? I have no idea, and it wasn't in any guide books...
It really is quite impressive.
Looking up.
Looking out.
After standing in line for 45 minutes to get tickets, we were on our way up the South side of the tower in an elevator!
The view!
The Seine!
Some shiny building!
A self-portrait... there are A LOT of these...
Looking up again.
Upside down....
:-)
This is me trying to look energetic after traveling for 30 hours... it was also rather bright up there. Notice the gift shop in the background. We had lunch at a McDonalds type place (Ben and Jerry's ice cream was good) inside the Eiffel Tower. yeah.
Looking down.
I told you there were a lot... :-) Let me know if you get tired of silly pictures of me!
Sacre-Coeur as seen from the Eiffel Tower. At least I think that's Montmartre Hill...
The complex on the other side of the Seine.
The skyline was, for lack of a better term, really cool.
The Arc de Triomphe.
There are a lot of bridges in Paris.
The line we were not in. Those are people, not candy wrappers.
These buildings looked like their sides fell off. *shrugs*
More Frenchy stuff.
A wee little tower hidden among the trees in the park beside the tower.
Another Bridge.
Sorry, I don't know what this is...
The Statue of Liberty's twin sister, as seen in National Treasure 2 is on the far end of this little island. Squint and you can see it.
More!
It was a fun walk from our hotel to the Tower everyday. There were a ton of interesting buildings.
Including this one...
The view out of our hotel room window. See the Eiffel Tower?
Closer.
Below us.
Me.
Again.
At night the Eiffel Tower would light up in different shades. It even would sparkle for 10 minutes on the hour after dark. Really cool.
Well, that's my second post-- More to follow soon!
4 comments:
Hello all,
Olivia had asked if anyone knew the significance of the inscriptions on the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe. Well, the 72 names carved into the four sides of the tower beneath the first balcony are the names of the indivuals (engineers, architects, scientists, and other notable people) who were most instrumental to Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (the main architect) in designing and constructing the tower. In case you didn't know, Gustave Eiffel was also the designer of the internal infrastructure of both Statues of Liberty.
The many inscriptions on and inside the Arc de Triomphe honor the heroes and soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars. There are 174 names of the battles that transpired during the conflicts and 700 names of French war heroes, both generals and common soldiers.
Olivia, the gold-domed building that you have a photo of appears to be the famous Pantheon of Paris.
You know I couldn't last long without saying something on here. :)
Ryan
I'm sorry,
I have to correct an erroneous statement that I made in the last comment. The gold-domed building is not the Pantehon but rather the Musee de Armee or the French military Museum. Inside is Napolean's gilded tomb.
Also the u shaped complex across the Seine from the Tower is The Trocadero. A memorial in honor of a famous battle that occured there.
And lastly , the gray brick building at the end of Champs de Mars is Ecole Militaire, the largest military school in France.
Maybe this info will help all of you better understand and appreciate the photos,
Ryan
thanks so much Olivia! Many of these are impressive...some I take for granted that the world has them since i know nothing about them. *sob* but thanks and some of those self portraits are...interesting. :)
Oh, one tip while taking self portraits in the future, zoom in just a tiny bit so your arm doesn't show, and your face is evened out more. If you get too close w/out zooming your face will look distorted, and if you hold the camera way out so your face doesn't look distored it usually shows your arm. But i know for a lot of those you wanted to show where you were, therefore you showed your arm to get more of the (bummer, can't think of the word...) scenery?
I'm looking forward to your next post!!!!
lots of love,
Rachel
Wow, all of your wonderful pictures bring back a ton of memories.I rode in that same elevator. And the view from the deck is certainly an Eiffel.
Pun intended. It's good that you are so cute..all those self portraits are OK by me! Can't hardly wait for the next posting! Oh, and thanks Ryan for all the info. It does help.
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