Everyone loves the Eiffel Tower! We've previously featured this famous landmark on TravelGumbo; in today's post I wanted to talk a little about the transformation that takes place at the Tower with the setting of the sun.
Our latest one Clue Mystery featured a group of nuns in Paris who were busy taking photographs. I have to admit the sight was a novelty to me. I can't remember when I've ever seen a group of nuns all photograph the same object at the same time (seen from a different perspective in the second photo below). Congratulations to GeorgeG and PHeymont who recognized where our One Clue Mystery was situated.
As the glow of the sun fades, the Eiffel Tower shines! Plus it's a good time to view the Tower as it's not very crowded. These views were taken from the Park Champ de Mars southeast of the tower. It was a pleasant atmosphere -- many people sitting on blankets and enjoying the sight.
Beyond the regular lights that illuminate the tower, there's a twinkling show of lights that lasts for five minutes every hour on the hour. There are apparently some 20,000 strobe lights on the tower, installed for the new Millennium in the late 20th century. You can appreciate what that's like much better in these short video clips.
The light show lasts until 2 am during the summer, 1 am the rest of the year.
Finally, a few views of the tower taken from its base...
...and some views of the City of Lights taken from the Tower at 11 pm. As I had no tripod, most of the images I snapped were too blurry for inclusion in this post, but these two of the Seine and Arc de Triomphe aren't too bad.
When in Paris, an evening to enjoy this most famous landmark in a different light is highly recommended! Be sure to take a jacket as it can get quite cool at night, even in the summer.
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