Tidbits:

The Eiffel tower was built in Paris by Gustave Eiffel, a French engineer specializing in revolutionary steel constructions, for the 1889 world exhibition. The tower originally had no practical use. The intent was just to demonstrate the capabilities of modern engineering. A daring engineer's dream, the Eiffel tower weights 7000 tons, but the pressure it applies on the ground is only equivalent to that of a chair with a man seated on it! Scheduled to be demolished in 1909 it was saved by its use as a telecommunication tower.

At 300 meters, it remained the world highest building until the construction of the Chrysler building in New York city in 1929. Now 320 meters high with its television antennas, it still incredibly towers above Paris, a city almost free from skyscrapers.

The Arc de Triomphe commemorates a victory by Napoleon. Beneath the Arch is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and an eternal flame commemorating the dead of the two world wars. The arch is located at the center of the Place Charles de Gaulle, and at the top of the Champs Élysées Boulevard, where twelve avenues converge.

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