la tour eiffel was built for the 1889 world's fair, to celebrate the 100 year birthday since the french revolution, under the direction of gustave eiffel. when it first went up, many parisians hated it and thought it was ugly. originally it was only meant to stand for 20 years, but it was efficient for communication, even being used for military purposes during world war 1. during the german occupation of france, the cables to the top were cut so that hitler could not go up it. and in 2002, the world's most famous structure reached 200,000,000 visitors. that is. so. many. stinkin'. people.
it's funny. you get to paris, and everyone's asking you whether you've seen the eiffel tower yet, as if that's the thing you must do there; i didn't really understand the hype. i guess i've always been fascinated by smaller places, ones that are less dominated by tourists with those necklace money carriers and massive cameras and gargantuan buses that they spill out of. (and yes, i do recognize that i am one of those tourists with the massive cameras.)
but really. when you get there, sitting on the green grass of champ de mars (named for the god of war because of its former use as a space for military drills) with a picnic lunch of a ham and gruyère on a baguette and your best friend, you look up to the eiffel tower and think to yourself, "wow, i am really, truly, in paris." the tower is impressive and beautiful, in its metallic sort of way. i really like it. and it's not too far from our place. i have a feeling similar picnics may happen in the future. especially since the weather here is perfectly autumnal.
in conclusion: drinking starbuck's in france may be super american, jumping in front of a historic monument may be totally cliché, but being in the city of lights with your best friend is not overrated.
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