La Tour

The Little Dudes re-unite at the mid-section of the Eiffel Tower following an unanticipated 2.5 hour weight in line. Not to worry though - the children play footie with a deck-shoe, climb the Eiffel Tower's concrete base, play with themselves and mostly avoid the grouchy adults. Mostly. Mary decides that the line is unfair as large groups receive priority over single payers: "this does not sit well with the entrepreneur in me" she says. It is a chilly morning which turns into a warm spring afternoon for our picnic in the nextdoor park. Afterwards we catch a merry-go-round and it is a perfect day.

I learn that maintenance of the tower includes applying 60 tons of three graded tones of paint every seven years to protect it from rust. On occasion, the color of the paint is changed — the tower is currently painted a shade of brownish-gray. However, the tower is actually painted three different colors in order to make it look the same color. The colors change from dark to light from top to bottom, but it looks the same because of the background (the sky being light and the ground being dark).