The Eiffel tower and the Louvre

We were in Paris. On our second day in it we visited the Eiffel Tower. Most people wonder what the Eiffel tower was made for. Well in 1889 when Paris hosted The World Fair they had to decide what people should enter through. They wanted to impress everyone. Lots of people had different ideas. A gigantic arch, even a giant pink elephant! But Gustav Eiffel's idea won, a tall tower you could walk under. The tower was built, but it was built so that it could be dismantled easily. Gustav didn't like that the tower was going to be taken apart after the fair. He had designed it with a home at the top and he lived there. After the fair he pondered how to save his home. Then he came up with the brilliant idea of a radio tower. He took a radio antenna and put it on the top and for the first time they were able to contact New York City. At that time it was the tallest radio tower in the world and is still in use for some type of broadcasting today. The people of Paris hated the tower, they thought it was hideous but soon they started to take tourist to the top and now it is worth an estimated £344billion to France’s economy! When we got to the Eiffel tower I realized how big it really is!

The view at the top was amazing. We could not pick out were we were staying but I loved it. Another small tidbit: in Paris there is a law saying no building in center city can be more than seven stories high. They tried one skyscraper and it looks so bad they made the law, no more skyscrapers! Gustav Eiffel also designed The Statue of Liberty.

Next we went to the Louvre, home to the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa. We went in what we guessed was the correct direction to see the Mona Lisa. Soon we stumbled upon a sign that pointed in the right direction.

What made this painting so famous? In 1911 it was stolen by a worker. After the museum was closed he took it off the wall and trimmed it up a bit and put it under his uniform and went home. It took about three days until the theft was discovered. In two years it had become a big mystery. Eventually the thief sold it to someone who gave it back to the Louvre. Leonardo DeVinci is the artist. No one knows for sure who the model was for the Mona Lisa but the painting was well done.

We looked at lots of paintings and sculptures but the Louvre is so big if you spent one minute in front of each thing it would take about three months till you finished.