Our first glance of the Eiffel tower and Bryan was initially unimpressed.
``It’s a bit railway station,’’ he remarked, referring to the towering chunk of metal which just happens to be one of world’s most recognisable landmarks.
I, on the other hand, was a little more impressed. Especially at night when the 300m tower was lit with thousands of twinkling fairy lights.
The view from the top at sunset was pretty spectacular too.
But what I wasn't so impressed about was the many armed soldiers prowling around the bottom of the tower (and outside many other tourist attractions in Paris) to provide extra security following European terror threats.
But despite the giant machine guns they were holding it was kind of hard to take these guys seriously because of the floppy, oversized berets perched awkwardly on their heads. After all, you can't get much more Parisian than berets. Or bread sticks, which were on sale at the nearby market, along with plenty of other tasty goodies.
The friendly local stallholders at the market were a welcome change from the pushy ``bling bling boys'' who hang out at tourist haunts and constantly try and sell you Eiffel Tower keyrings and knock-off designer handbags.
These guys are completely annoying (we came across them in almost every European city) but also funny to watch too, as they are illegal operators and spend a large part of their day running from the cops.
Their huge assortment of tacky souvenirs are set up carefully on a blanket on the ground so when they see police they can scoop the goods up, sling their makeshift bag across their shoulders and make a quick getaway.
As for me, I wasn't making a quick getaway -- I was quite happy to hang around and soak up my surroundings. I was, after all, in PARIS! Even Bryan seemed to become a little more enamoured with the ``railway station'' by the end of our visit.
No comments:
Post a Comment