Paris {silliness}

When people come to visit me from faraway places I tell them I will not bring them to the tourist traps. In San Francisco this means, mostly Fisherman's Wharf, and in New York it covers most things. Elementary and Junior High school trips covered most of the touristy things in NY and I have had little desire to visit them again as a grown-up.

On this last trip to Paris, I decided to see the Eiffel Tower again. The first time I saw it was when 1990 was about one day old and light was diminishing rapidly. I held my cold and heavy Nikon FG, was unfortunately shooting slides, laid on the ground and photographed what could register (not much). Somewhere there are intriguing shots of the Eiffel Tower at night, a little blurry in that artsy way, from a bitter cold night, many moons ago.

About a month ago, one warm afternoon, I set out for the tall elegant structure located in what feels to be the suburban city outskirts of Paris. Me and thousands of others. On this day, I was grateful to be alone. Cities make a lot less noise if you're not participating in them. I watched tourists of every stripe, color and language mill about, snap all sorts of cameras and get lost. I particularly liked the group pf people all wearing the same outfits! They weren't getting as lost as the others.

It also made me feel very safe to have the armed soldiers walking to and fro.

No, I did not go to the top. It fed me just to see the towering structure in brilliant late summer sun, trespass the lacy shadows and smile at the site of a site so widely viewed.

And then I got silly. Feeling touched by a bit of the Amelie-bug, I just had to take the QUINTESSENTIAL Parisian photo:

Macaron + Tour Eiffel.

Grant me this wonky walk will you?

Poking a little fun at the Grande Dame of Paris. Whispering whimsy into a sacred piece of land. Looking up the skirt of an elegant lady. Pinching a bottom, patsh-ing a tokhes. Taking the piss.

xxx Bisous!

Comments

[chronicler]

I am so totally jealous. Not of Paris, but of enjoying that macaroon in Paris! And, of course, meeting with David.

[Kat]

Paris? New Years? The first days of 1990? I was there! Silent fish passing through the dark waters of time.

[jackie]

i just visited paris for the first time this past may, and i went to the eiffel tower at night and took a million pictures. i, too, wandered off alone there to just feel the city breathing without talking or being talked to. touristy as it is, there really IS somehting cool about it.

i'm new to it, but i'm REALLY enjoying your blog.

[Jeanne]

LOL - I adore the macaroon & tower shot! There is just something about the tower that makes me go crazy with the camera every time I see it - always some new angle or trick of the light that I haven't seen before. And the crowds at the base always make for fab people-watching!