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49 Comments
- inactive, on 05/09/2009, -3/+19I'm actually off to France on Sunday! Great read!
- TheIndigoSky, on 05/10/2009, -1/+16Art is subjective. It's not pretentious to think it's an eyesore, but it is pretentious to demand it be tore down because it does not conform to your own aesthetic likings.
- frontaxle, on 05/09/2009, -1/+14Same frame as the Statue of Liberty. Built to last.
- IOhBot, on 05/10/2009, -0/+11My favourite description of the Eiffel Tower from the period:
"A truly tragic street lamp".
That description is so very french. lol - Blinker1315, on 05/09/2009, -4/+13An concise and fine piece about this icon that apparently was reviled when it was unveiled 120 years ago. I've been to the Eiffel Tower a couple of times and have to say it didn't "wow" me, perhaps because I'd heard so much about it and seen it so often in pictures. The Sphinx, just outside of Cairo, is a different story. First time I went there, it looked really tiny and I wondered if it was a replica used as a gift shop. Once I got over that shock however, and spent time looking at it, and the Pyramids, it really was breathtaking.
- MarshalBanana, on 05/10/2009, -0/+7It's hard to imagine, because it's always been there for us. It's synonymous with Paris...France even. Looking at it objectively, it's really not that great looking. I can see how people might have thought this. It's large and visible from very far away.
- appleseed1234, on 05/10/2009, -0/+7GPS?
I can't believe German satellites were able to pinpoint the location of Paris as a result of the Eiffel Tower and beam that information back to their cavalry! - pookydirt, on 05/09/2009, -0/+7What an entertaining article! I knew about the monument envy with the Washington Monument... but really didn't know much else trivia (I did always sort of hear that Parisians hated it, except for, maybe, the tourist dollars it brought in). neat stuff, thanks!
- ralphodog, on 05/10/2009, -0/+6Protip: When people try to tie a string to your finger, ignore them and quickly walk away.
- drgmdp, on 05/10/2009, -0/+5you have to put it into context... XIX century paris, all neoclassic, factories were still some kind of new weird thing, the bourgeoisie industrial class was still under-looked by the aristocracy...... and then some bridge builder puts a funny tower with no attachments to the classical culture in the center of the city. who says engineering can't be art?
- inactive, on 05/10/2009, -1/+4Actually i've always thought it's an eyesore.
- ileftfark, on 05/10/2009, -0/+3They didn't know he was panoramic...
- MrInfallible, on 05/10/2009, -0/+3"dizzily ridiculous tower dominating Paris like a black and gigantic factory chimney, crushing [all] beneath its barbarous mass"
You can see their point in the age of the industrial revolution, compared to the elegance of Paris it's size is the only thing that stands out. - bicyclethief, on 05/10/2009, -0/+3There's nothing like being up at the top looking out over Paris at night.
- drgmdp, on 05/10/2009, -0/+3rust is desired on copper, it's what gives it the greenish end
- lolmax, on 05/10/2009, -2/+4too bad ours was built to rust :(
- banik2008, on 05/10/2009, -0/+2She was probably not French but Romanian, there are a lot of them in Paris, and they do just what she did to you.
- basichuman, on 05/10/2009, -0/+2It's amazing that people thought it was such an eyesore back then. I suppose anything that drastically new takes some getting used to. I went there a little over a year ago and was amazed at how beautiful it is. Here's a picture I took of the it at night. http://i40.tinypic.com/4tsjtw.jpg
- MrInfallible, on 05/10/2009, -0/+2What about doing the Effiel tower to the prom queen called Paris?
- inactive, on 05/10/2009, -2/+4http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/555/sphinxxz8.j ...
- LordBalderdash, on 05/10/2009, -0/+2eiffel originally designed the tower to be built in barcelona, but they didn't want it..
- JoeHague, on 05/10/2009, -0/+2Funny people today talk about Sutro Tower the same way/
- inactive, on 05/10/2009, -0/+2well done on missing the point hero.
- IOhBot, on 05/10/2009, -0/+2Hey be careful when you go up the Eiffel Tower. The lifts you get crammed into with other people are tiny (like literally shoulder to shoulder cramped), and I had some old dirty old french women try steal my wallet out of my back pocket...
...well she thought it was a wallet. It was actually just a packet of tissues because I had a cold at the time.
And here is the thing... she was actually with her daughter and the grandchildren up there! Like I'm guessing she was trying to nick my wallet so she can buy them all icecream or something!
Unbelievable.
Every time I see the Eiffel tower now I think of that whole episode... nasty old french c***. - andoru, on 05/10/2009, -0/+2Sounds like a similar reaction when the Sydney Opera House was built - one commentator described it as "a bunch of copulating turtles".
- burgerkinghorn, on 09/02/2009, -2/+4A couple jokes I've heard bashing the Eiffel Tower:
1) World's largest set of scaffolding.
2) Significance of the Eiffel Tower ==> Germany's tallest flagpole - iamheero1, on 05/10/2009, -1/+2^^^ that's a crappy picture of the back of the sphinx's head, don't bother.
- inactive, on 05/10/2009, -0/+1Please explain what this means.
- ryanonfire, on 05/10/2009, -0/+1That happened to you too!
- lolmax, on 05/10/2009, -0/+1In summary: The french turn their noses up at the french but learn to love themselves over time
- fucter, on 05/10/2009, -0/+1so dugg for pixies reference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
- DeathRay2K, on 05/10/2009, -2/+3Prepare to be disappointed.
France sucks: it's dirty, smelly, and there are street peddlers everywhere. The people are pretty awesome, but apart from that, it doesn't have a whole lot going for it.
Edit: Just read ralphodog's comment, and listen to it! The people with strings are bad people! - cityscape, on 05/10/2009, -3/+4More photos of the Eiffel Tower:
http://www.pbase.com/cincyimages/image/63627562
http://www.pbase.com/cincyimages/image/80499810
http://www.pbase.com/cincyimages/image/80499774
http://www.pbase.com/cincyimages/image/80499773
http://www.pbase.com/cincyimages/image/63627019
http://www.pbase.com/cincyimages/image/63627571
http://www.pbase.com/cincyimages/image/63627570
http://www.pbase.com/cincyimages/image/63627568 - SRSco, on 05/10/2009, -0/+1It was probably a typo. It can be forgiven.
- ZeeZee2k, on 05/10/2009, -3/+4An Eiffel Tower is a threesome with two guys and a girl. The guys are high-fiving over the girl to make the Eiffel Tower shape.
- styleinmotion, on 05/09/2009, -5/+6gotta love how everyone thought it was an eyesore back when. such pretentious people
- Zaxcomp, on 05/10/2009, -0/+1Did you get permission for taking that photo?
- frontaxle, on 05/10/2009, -0/+1The copper is only as thick as a penny. Not bad considering...
- sanman, on 05/10/2009, -0/+1Appreciate it while you can.
You never know when some rogue madman could launch a missile filled with Nanites to dissolve it into a big green pile of goo. - Matsky, on 05/10/2009, -0/+1Are they all over Western Europe? Went to Dublin a while back and there were more eastern-European beggars and thieves than Irish! One also tried to nick my mates phone, right inside a pub.
- gcnaddict, on 05/10/2009, -3/+3Blinker, your comment in general is quite good, which is why I'm going to feel very bad for the following dick move:
I've never seen anyone blow the rules of grammar apart within the first two to four characters of a comment. It's "A concise" not "An concise." - lennybird, on 05/10/2009, -1/+1Say hi to Europe for me. I really want to get over there someday.
- IOhBot, on 05/10/2009, -1/+1No she was definately french, as when I caught her I gave her a huge glare and she started rambling on in french. Her daughter then said to her...
"Don't bother, he doesn't speak french".
I was so pissed off I couldn't think of anything rude to say back in french. Then it was 10 very long awkward seconds to get out. - inactive, on 05/10/2009, -6/+5Am i the only person (still alive) that's never cared much for the Eiffel Tower? I've always been annoyed by people's amazement and reverence of it. I think it's pretty ugly.
- VassilaZaitsev, on 05/10/2009, -1/+0German binoculars and balloons.
The stalemate on the Western front during WW1 gave the Germans plenty of time to bring up the giant railway guns,the tower offered a general direction for fire and control,they could measure off the tower and site their rail guns to hit targets of choice. - inactive, on 05/10/2009, -2/+1Eating cheese while watching Picard do his thing in the Alpha Quadrant is absolutely nothing like that.
- inactive, on 05/10/2009, -6/+2Few know because few were taught sufficiently.
- VassilaZaitsev, on 05/10/2009, -8/+1The Eiffel Tower gave the Germans a GPS fix on Paris in 3 or 4 wars,first the Cavalry and then the Panzers...the French Ideal of drawing a target on ones own back.
- eramos, on 05/10/2009, -10/+1lol its kinda fitting that this is in France, the origin of limp wristed liberals who will find they were wrong then just like they are wrong now. In 120 years no doubt Bush's presidency will be beloved by lovers of freedom and the people of the DEMOCRACY of Iraq.
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