La Tour Eiffel

Good morning! As a diversion today from all of the snow and cold I thought I would share a few of my favorite photos of the Eiffel Tower or La Tour Eiffel as the French refer to her, from my last trip to Paris. 

Here are a few “fun facts” about the Eiffel Tower:

* The tower was constructed by Gustave Eiffel as the entrance arch for the Universal Exposition of 1889.

* More than 100 people submitted ideas for the entrance, the commission was granted to Eiffel and Company.

* Construction was completed in 2 years and two months.

*Gustave Eiffel engraved the names of 72 prominent French mathematicians, engineers and scientists of the time on the tower.

* The tower is painted three different shades of color, the darkest at the bottom and the lightest at the top. 

*Every seven years the tower is covered in 60 tons of paint to protect it from corrosion, over a time period of 15-18 months.

* You can see around 37 miles from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

*From 1925-1935 the Eiffel Tower was used as a commercial billboard for Citroen, a French company that sells cars. No other brand has even used the tower for advertisement. 

*Until 1930 the Eiffel Tower was the tallest building in the world.

* The Eiffel Tower was going to be dismantled and sold for scrap 20 years after its construction. 

2,500,000 rivets and 18,038 iron parts make up the Eiffel Tower.

* In 1925 a conman twice sold the Eiffel tower for scrap metal.

*In 2002 the tower celebrated its 200th million visitor.

* The Eiffel Tower welcomes more visitors than any other paid monument in the world, an estimated 7 million a year.

* When Hitler invaded France the French cut the cables to the elevators in the tower so that if Hitler wanted to see the view he would have to walk. Hitler was not deterred, he did walk to the top and then he had the elevators repaired so that his soldiers could visit also.

*  Hitler ordered the destruction of the tower, thankfully that order was never carried out.

* There are 1665 steps in the tower.

*The Eiffel Tower weighs approximately 10,000 tons.

* 2 tons of paper are used each year to print the tickets for the visitors. 

* There were two fires in the tower 1965 and 2003.

* Open 365 days a year the tower consumes 7.8 kWh of electricity, the equivalent of 100 homes. 

The Eiffel Tower is a beauty isn’t she? I never tire of seeing her when I am in Paris. Have you visited the Eiffel Tower? Are you fan? What are your other favorite place to visit in Paris?

ALL IMAGES taken by PINE CONES AND ACORNS

I hope that you have a wonderful day, be safe and warm I understand that another storm is coming along this weekend.