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The tower, from a bus
I am no expert on French law, but just in case this taking this totally clichéd shot of the Eiffel Tower was some kind of legal requirement, I went ahead and made it. Because ending up in jail would be a crappy way to spend a vacation.
Oh, and also because it really did look pretty cool.
Paris
photographed 6.18.2017
The mechanical part
I guess I never thought about what was underneath the Eiffel Tower, what it took to make everything run. And then, there I was, face to face with all the mechanical parts. And I would like to explain it all to you, only I was too busy with the camera to listen to the guide (because I could only do one of those things, and you know for sure which one I was going with…).
But, anyway, here it is: the mechanical part.
Eiffel Tower
Paris
photographed 6.8.2017
Underbelly
Our tour group got to go below the tower, to look at the system of hydraulic lifts that operate the elevators. It was interesting even though I was busy taking pictures and missed a lot of the explanation.
It was also sad: I thought how fun it would be to tell my dad – a civil engineer – about it when I got home. It’s coming up on two years since he passed away, so I guess I didn’t get to Paris soon enough.
Eiffel Tower
Paris
photographed 6.8.2017
Invocation of science
This would have been slightly more interesting if I’d known it while I was there, but there are 72 names on the Eiffel Tower; Gustave Eiffel called it “an invocation of science” because of his concerns over protests against the tower. It doesn’t sound especially plausible, that a list of names would calm down protesters, but the very existence of the tower indicates that it worked. I guess.
(Click for a larger view, and you can see them, at the bottom of that rectangular section.)
Eiffel Tower
Paris
photographed 6.8.2017
One Day | One Image 