22.9.08

Eiffel Tower (2)

You can see some people walking on the European map. The photo is zoomed from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

France has the rotating presidency of the European Community (EU) for six months – July / December 2008. During this period, the Eiffel Tower and the Champs de Mars have become very European.

I already made a post about the Tower in blue lights and yellow stars during the evening hours. It will be illuminated like this until the end of the year. On this collage, you can also see what the stars look like during the day.
Beginning September, a large size map (25 x 55 m = 80 x 180 ft) was installed at the feet of the Tower. It will stay there until beginning November. It allows visitors to familiarise a little bit with the 27 member nations. ... already to situate them on a map, but you can also find some short descriptions of each state related to their place on the map. ... and all the national flags are there.
You may ask yourself why - with at present 27 member states - there are only 12 stars in the European map. Actually, the map was created already in 1955 for the Council of Europe and then, in the 80’s, also adopted by the then European Economic Community (EEC) – now the European Community (EU). Rather than changing the flag each time a new member enters, 12 was adopted as a number with no political connotations and as a symbol which you can find in e.g. the number of hours, months, symbols of the zodiac, ounces in a pound (!), pieces in a dozen, semitones in an octave (western music), tables of Roman Law, hues in the colour wheel... There are of course also religious links to 12, which today may be more doubtful as a European reference.

Some ten days ago, I had the previlege to meet Pink Ginger and her partner who visited Paris. She kindly sent me some photos of the blue Tower and, as you can see, she even managed a photo with the combination of the blue and the twinkling lights. Sincere thanks for letting me publish them here!
Related to the European Patrimony Days (this weekend), I made a small extra post, see below.

37 comments:

krystyna said...

First time I am first.
Thank you for fantastic "blue Elffel Tower"
and great information.

The last pic is special and wonderful. Peter you are lucky blogger, many bloggers you know personally. It is very nice.

My best wishes to you!

hpy said...

Première en français!

hpy said...

Et certainement pas la dernière.

hpy said...

Quelle horreur! Je ne trouve rien d'intéressant à dire, alors je dis seulement" beautiful reportage".

Enfin, l'idée avec les pays est très bonne, car nous sommes tous plus ou moins nuls en géographie.

Olivier said...

vraiment superbe (et très bonne idée) cette carte de l'Europe. C'était que pour la journée du patrimoine ? J'aime beaucoup la photo de l'étoile vu de l'autre coté, bonne idée du photographe..

lyliane six said...

Très bien cette carte des pays européens, il me semble te voir à l'endroit de la ville de Goteborg?
Tu as de la chance d'être à Paris, les blogeurs viennent à toi, la Normandie n'intéresse pas grand monde. Pour la journée du patrimoine, c'est toi qui aurais dû être conférencier, tu en connaît un rayon....

Nathalie H.D. said...

Tu m'avais parlé de cette carte de l'Europe, je suis ravie de la découvrir en photos. C'est une super bonne idée car notre géographie de l'Europe de l'est laisse souvent à désirer. Je crois beaucoup à la géographie appliquée, vécue de façon physique. Ca donne vraiment envie d'y aller.

Nathalie H.D. said...

Great souvenir picture with Pink Ginger and her friend. The Champs Elsées and the blue Eiffel Tower, the true touristy stuff!!!

Daniel Chérouvrier said...

Have you noticed that all the French Post office are decorated with the EEC flag ?
Les bureaux de poste ne sont pas rancuniers car au nom de l'Europe on les ferme de plus en plus.
Lots of the Post offices in small towns are closed or threaten to be closed.

Daniel Chérouvrier said...

Have you noticed that all the French Post office are decorated with the EEC flag ?
Les bureaux de poste ne sont pas rancuniers car au nom de l'Europe on les ferme de plus en plus.
Lots of the Post offices in small towns are closed or threaten to be closed.

Vagabondage said...

Bonjour Peter,

Nous allons devenir incollable, grâce à ce genre de post..

Rien ne nous échappera de la grande Dame, bleue scintillante aux dessous parfois doré...

En prime, le portrait de Peter... Whouah.. super bronzé.. La classe en quelque sorte...

Merci Peter de toute cette science.

Bonne journée à toi.

Chuckeroon said...

Peter, I think Sarko shld award you a Leg d'Hon for having made such a good image of the Euro Presidency.

Jokes on one side.....I'm also congratulating Paris on such a fine celebration of "Europe".

Kindest to you, as always.

HZDP said...

Thank you Peter that I can have a close look at the tower and the cute map, impressing!
and I guess the blue tower has inspired some of my thoughts, I'm gonna out for more night shots of Hangzhou, er, after I finished most of my work this week of course

Anonymous said...

It's great to get this update about all the additions around the tower for the EU stuff. Expert photos, I can't believe the power of your zoom! How do you carry that lens all over Paris??

What a wonderful photo of the 3 of you with the Champs-Élysées behind and the Arc. Nice to see you.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your visits and comments about Audrey. I sent you an email.

I do like this post about the Eiffel Tower and the map. I also got to see you with Pink Ginger. It makes a nice collage post.

MARIA said...

Dear Peter,
I'd like to Thank You for your sweet visit and vishes.
Please, InterneTional Friends Award is for you!

My sincere greetings
Maria
from Poland

MARIA said...

The Eiffel Tower and Paris,
always beautiful!

I feel here as I am in Paris.

Shammickite said...

What in interesting post today, Peter. The Eiffel Tower is so elegant, and it looks beautiful adorned with the stars of the flag od europe. I wish I could walk on that map though, there are so many countries in Europe that I have never seen and I could visit them all in one day!!!

Azer Mantessa said...

the last pic of you, pink ginger and her ... grrrrrrrrrr ... partner ... very nice :-)

alice said...

Nous sommes nombreux à mériter un petit cours sur la géographie physique et humaine de notre Europe...Allez, un test, les capitales de tous les pays? Je sèche...

Maxime said...

Géniale, la photo des piétons en train de parcourir l'Europe !

david santos said...

Bonsoir, Peter!
Bonne postage. Géniale.
Merci.

Anonymous said...

Poor little Switzerland - looks a bit embattled there, but maybe it's for the best......

claude said...

Quelle est belle la Tour eiffel en bleu !
C'est très intéressant de pouvoir passer d'un pays à un autre. Tu as pu retourner en Suède...
Très beau reportage, Peter, comme d'hab' !

EMNM said...

Very interesting post.
The European Union it´s a great project, one of the best things, the Euro, i love travel with my euros in my pocket

PeterParis said...

krystyna:
Thanks! Yes,I'm happy to start knowing a number of bloggers personally. Of course Paris is quite frequently visited.

hpy:
Comme tu dis!

olivier:
La carte reste jusqu'a début novembre!

PeterParis said...

lyliane:
J'avais du mal à zoomer su moi-même! :-))

nathalie:
It's always a pleasure ro meet other bloggers - you, Pink Ginger...

deslilas:
Happy to see you on my blog again! No, I hadn't noticed! Yes, the closing of post offices is a problem and in the few ones left you have to line up with large crowds.

PeterParis said...

mathilde:
Oui, il me reste endore un peu de bronzage toscane!

chuckeroon:
So, it was a joke? :-))

hzdp:
Looking forward to your night shots!

PeterParis said...

ruth:
No special lens. My compact Canon G7 takes care of the zooming!

abraham:
Thank YOU!

maria:
It's so nice to see you here! ... and to check your very nice blog!

Special thanks for the award!

PeterParis said...

shammickite:
Walking on the map is a good start!

azer:
I understand and share your grrrrrr! :-)))

PeterParis said...

alice:
Tous sauf un, mais... surtout, elles sont nombresues sur ma liste des villes à visiter!

maxime:
Merci!!

david:
Merci!!

PeterParis said...

richard:
At least UK (Scotland) is in!!

claude:
Je pars bientôt pour la Suède (3 octobre).

matritensis:
A credit card and Euros make travelling much easier... no border passing. It may however take away some of the "exotism", no stamps in the passport, no more forgotten small money in the drawers...! :-)

Deepak Gopi said...

Hello Sir
Thankyou for posting the pics,It was an amazing experience to view those pics.

Jessica said...

I like that the Eiffel Tower continues to be a symbol of progress. It has come a long way from the temporary structure it started as.

Thanks for the great pics!

Virginia said...

Peter,
Sad to hear that the map will be whisked away before we arrive! At least we will get to see la tour all dressed up in bleu. Your photos are lovely and I always learn something here.
V

PeterParis said...

deepak:
Just a pleasure! Thanks!

jessica:
You are so right!

virginia:
Bring your cameras for the blue light!

Anonymous said...

How nice: you can walk over Europe there.