Yesterday Paul found a nasty little debit against his bank account that he didn't authourize. Actually, it was a whopping $3,750 debit against his VISA card, so he had to straighten it out quickly. The bank required a statutory declaration, so off we toddled to the Australian Embassy to get one. The embassy just happened to be right next door to the Eiffel Tower. It was cold and windy and overcast when we set off at 2.00 pm, that's why the picture below looks so bleak and there are almost white caps on the river.
And here are your taxes at work! The Australian Embassy. Complete with a very un-Australian tree.
Underneath pictures of the Govenor General, Julia and Kevin the embassy had the hide to charge 15 euros ($21.30 AUD) to have a stat.dec. witnessed. Once Paul had calmed down, we tucked the aforementioned document in my handbag and set off down Boulevard John F. Kennedy.
Two hundred metres and we were right underneath the tower.
Two hundred metres and we were right underneath the tower.
It is so big that you can't photograph it up close.
You have to keep walking backwards .........
..... and further backwards ...........
.......... and further backwards ..........
......... until you are on the forecourt of the Trocadero .......
...... and then the upper deck of the Trocadero .......
...... and again.
Then you discover that you are at the doors of two museums; the Museum of Plans and Informations, Architecture and Patrimone and the Museum of the Marine. I chose the former. In hindsight, it might not have been the best choice.
It turned out to be moderately interesting, especially the second section on modern French architectural design. But unfortunately I was not allowed to photograph that. So all I have are a couple of images of a beautiful space, quite new, that houses copies of the most important examples of French architectural style since ...... well, along time ago. Anything and everything that has architectural merit has been copied for posterity. Given the devastation of German bombing in WW2, it's no wonder they want to safeguard images of their built environment.
Obviously, the earlier architectural heritage was mainly churches and religious buildings; given that the church and later the king were the only people with the money needed to patronise architecture.
Some models were small.......
.... while some were almost full size..... The colour of the space in this section was shadings of warm grey - beautiful. In the previous section it was a rich pink (although it looks red in the photographs) ..... an unusual colour for a museum.
Before we toddled upstairs to the much more interesting display of architecture from about 1850 onwards (the area where I couldn't use my camera), we just slipped out onto the terrace for a wine and a little sit down ......... and there it was again ........
.... and by now it was 6.00 pm summer time, still cool and cloudy, but much more mellow ......
..... you can just go on looking at it all day!
We are biding our time for a visit to the Tower. It is quite expensive to go all the way to the top. Most people only go to the first or second level. So you need to pick the day (warm but not hot... a breeze but not windy) and the time of day .... most museums and monuments don't open until 10.00 am but also don't close until 7.00 or 8.00 pm or later. You want to miss the school hours groups and especially miss the tour buses. Even when you time it right, the queues are quite long to get into the lifts. Generally, only two lifts operate at once - to control numbers. And there is intense scrutiny of bags (Xray as well as physical inspections). So all in all, you have to be "in the mood for it". Otherwise, just sit on a terrace somewhere with your camera and a glass of wine, and enjoy the view.
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