Paris

I made it to Paris and the city was enchanting!  The blue topped buildings are so iconic...gorgeous!  On the way to my hotel I passed the Arc de Triumph, it's stunning.  Someday I'd like to see it up close, but today is not that day.  I'm only here for an overnight layover so I'm just focusing on the Eiffel Tower. 

Here are the facts (which I totally stole from the Internet):

• It was named after one the most influential people in its construction, a contractor, engineer, architect and showman by the name of Gustave Eiffel.
• The Eiffel tower was finished March 31,1889 (also Luke's b-day, he's totally obsessed now).  It took around two years and two months to build. It was built during the years of 1887-1889.
• The Eiffel Tower uses 7.5 kilowatt hours of electricity annually. Much of this electricity is consumed by The Eiffel Tower at Night where a gold light illuminates Paris.  
• It is used as a radio broadcasting tower and observation tower. 
• Stephen Sauvestre was the main architect in charge of the Eiffel Tower. There were around 50 other engineers, 100 iron workers and 121 construction workers working on construction of the Eiffel Tower.
• It is made of 2.5 million rivets, 15,000 pieces of iron and 40 tons of paint. The main component of the Eiffel tower is iron.
• One person died from constructing the Eiffel Tower. 
• The Eiffel tower height is approximately 984-990 feet tall/high (depending on temperature) or 324 meters tall/high
• The Eiffel tower weighs approximately 10,000 tons, 7.3 thousand of them being the metal.
• The Eiffel Tower is coated with dark brown paint. It is re coated every 7 years. In late 2008, the Eiffel Tower will have been painted 19 times.
• Approximately 6.8 million people visit the Eiffel Tower every year. It is estimated that over a quarter of a billion people have view the Eiffel Tower in its long history.
• There are 1665 stairs steps in the Eiffel Tower.  (832 on each side.  750 of which I ascended on foot!  It took me some time, let me tell you, but I did it!  It was rainy weather and the stairs were slick, so the stairs to the very tippy top were not open to me)
• The City of Paris currently owns the Eiffel Tower.
• The Eiffel Tower had 108 stories.

Here are some of my favorite photographs from my evening in Paris:

I was in love with these bare trees in the park.  I could have stared at them for hours, the branches were mesmerizing.

Light 'em up!  This is like old Hollywood magic!

It sparkles on the hour!

The hotel Trent picked out for me was so sweet!  It was super chic and cozy.  I had a room with a view of the tower and I was absolutely giddy!  I got a lot of fabulous pictures from my balcony!  Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but they had the best snacks in the minibar...yummy!  I ate every single one as I lounged on the bed and read my book in peace and enjoyed my last night of vacation!!