NOTRE DAME SKATEBOARDING AT THE END OF THE DAY

NIGHT IS NIGH 

THE SKATEBOARDER 

IS UP AND OVER 

NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL 

PARIS, FRANCE 

Another, older view, here 

GUSTAVE EIFFEL b. December 15, 1832

ALEXANDRE GUSTAVE EIFFEL

December 15, 1832-December 27, 1923

THE EIFFEL TOWER, PARIS, FRANCE

GUSTAVE EIFFEL'S MASTERPIECE

COMPLETED 1889

Kid's Eye View

PHOTOGRAPHED SEVENTY YEARS LATER

Gustave Eiffel, an engineer and "constructor," specialized in metallic structures. He designed the iron skeleton frame for the Statue of Liberty for the 1876 U.S. Centennial Exposition (see here and here). He built the Eiffel Tower -- the tallest structure in the world at the time -- for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris -- 1889 being the centenary of the French Revolution. Eiffel's work also seems to have been revolutionary; he is said to have been "one of the first engineers to recognize the importance of wind forces on tall structures. He designed the surface of his Tower to be so minimal that the wind has virtually nothing to grab onto."

Now a French firm, Ginger, wants to turn the Eiffel Tower into a "green jungle" or a "something akin to a very tall, and growing, Christmas tree" -- the world's largest tree. It would be covered by six hundred thousand plants -- and all the infrastructure needed to keep them growing.

There is a incredible three-part visualization of what the Eiffel Tower would come to look like if the scheme went through, here. The proposal's authors are touting this as a visionary ecological project. See for yourselves.

JUVENILIA

ANOTHER POSTING FROM THE PAST: A PARIS GENDARME

BACK IN

THE DAY

GENDARME

PARIS, FRANCE

JUVENILIA

JACQUES CHIRAC EXCUSED FROM ATTENDING HIS OWN TRIAL

JACQUES CHIRAC 

ON TRIAL 

IN 

ABSENTIA 

for corruption 

THE FORMER 

FRENCH PRESIDENT 

(1995-2007) 

IS SAID TO SUFFER FROM 

FUZZY MEMORY 

More on the story here and here 

Another photograph of Chirac here 

IT'S SUNDAY: NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL, PARIS

IT'S SUNDAY  

NOTRE DAME 

Paris, France 

Juvenilia 

"GERMANY" REGAINS ITS SOVEREIGNTY, May 5, 1955

THE 

FEDERAL REPUBLIC 

OF GERMANY 

(AKA "WEST GERMANY") 

BECOMES 

SOVEREIGN 

MAY 5, 1955 

STREET SCENE WITH SAILOR 

GIESSEN, GERMANY, 1959 

Just short of ten years after V-E Day, the end of World War II in Europe, three of the four occupying powers (the U.S., the U.K., and France) granted West Germany its sovereignty; four days later, this "Federal Republic of Germany" joined NATO.  On the other side:  the "Democratic Republic of Germany," East Germany, and the USSR. 

JACQUES CHIRAC ELECTED PRESIDENT OF FRANCE, May 7, 1995

JACQUES CHIRAC 

ELECTED PRESIDENT

OF FRANCE

May 7, 1995

Served until May 16, 2007

A BBC summing up/appreciation here

("The house that Jacques Chirac built") 

GIRL IN A PARIS PARK: JUVENILIA

JUVENILIA 

GIRL 

IN

A

PARK

IN

PARIS, FRANCE

Photographed by a girl somewhat, but not hugely, older