i fell for Eiffel. . .

the first time my husband and i laid our eyes on this unmistakeable French landmark,  we were so awed,  and in the hubby's words,  "it took my  breath away".    I am sure part of that is due to the fact that we  couldn't believe that we were actually in Paris.   And the bigger part is how the Eiffel Tower is so larger (literally and figuratively)  than life.   It has a whole lot of history attached to it being 121 years old.  Hence,  in our short stay,   we managed to drop by a number of times and we couldn't resist taking photos each and every time.  We had photos taken  amidst a morning drizzle . .

.

and on one lazy afternoon . .

and at night  where  the sight was simply unbelievable

Oh,  we also had a shot from under the tower,  while on queue to go up. . .

and while on the second level (too bad that's the highest point we were allowed to go to),  

with a view of the River Seine,   and the shadow of the mighty Eiffel.

While we were on the queue,   we saw slices of Paris society,   like a diorama  -  

There are tourists from various countries  (including European countries)  and  there are also locals accompanying their visitor-friends,  Eiffel being a mandatory stop for sightseeing .  France, specifically Paris  has such a large Tourism industry.

I also noticed a group of women,  who do not look like locals,   dressed uniformly in long skirts and layered tops,  some of them have veils,  and they would approach people  as they say "Speak English?" and if someone acknowledges,  they would show a piece of paper with something written on it.   I actually don't know what they wanted  as i also did not acknowledge them -  my friends who visited Paris in the past have given me a lot of reminders,   and that was one of them.     

I also saw a number of street vendors selling a multitude of souvenir items,    laid out on a blanket and it included all sizes of the miniature Eiffel Tower;   apparently,  they were unauthorized to do so,  as a French policeman would later chase them away . . hmm, so like Manila.     

All these just added to the mystique that is Eiffel.     My visits were  certainly not enough,  hence i hope to be able to do a Douglas MacArthur soon.