Sunday, June 9, 2013

DYLAN AND HALLE IN PARIS!

Dylan and Halle went on the vacation of a lifetime!  Halle had always wanted to go to Paris, so Dylan surprised her with two first-class tickets to "La Ville Lumiere" (the City of Light).



Of course, the most famous of these 'lights' is the Eiffel Tower itself, pictured here at night.


Dylan and Halle took the tour and learned a lot about the history of the Eiffel Tower.


The Eiffel Tower was built for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII of England, opened the tower. Of the 700 proposals submitted in a design competition, Gustave Eiffel's was unanimously chosen.


Circa 1889

At 300 meters (320.75 m including antenna), and 7,000 tons, it was the world's tallest building until 1930. Other statistics include:

1.2.5 million rivets
2.300 steel workers, and 2 years (1887-1889) to construct it.
3.Sway of at most 12 cm in high winds.
4.Height varies up to 15 cm depending on temperature..
5.15,000 iron pieces (excluding rivets). 40 tons of paint. 1652 steps to the top.


In 1889, Gustave Eiffel began to fit the peak of the tower as an observation station to measure the speed of wind. He also encouraged several scientific experiments including Foucault's giant pendulum, a mercury barometer and the first experiment of radio transmission.



And here is how the Eiffel Tower looks today:



After the tour, Dylan and Halle were absolutely famished, so they stopped and sat on one of the park benches nearby.


A glass of red wine each served to refresh them.  When in Paris, a little wine certainly helps one to wind down.



Then they chowed down on some awesome escargot!  Nothing like snails in a little garlic butter, n'est-ce-PAW?  I'll bet Dylan really had to SHELL it out for these guys.


Oops!  SlipPURRy little suckers ...


One of those S-CAR-GO just got up and went!


Looks like a snail's pace isn't so sluggish after all!  Maybe it's just a bad rap.

GO escargot, GO!


As a souvenir of their trip to Paris, Dylan and Halle each had their photo taken at the Eiffel Tower.










Of course there is much more to Paris than just the Eiffel Tower but we're going to leave Dylan and Halle alone to enjoy the sights and sounds on their own.  What can we say except that romance is in the air?

Au revoir mes amis -- a bientot!