An Eiffel of Paris!

At the top of the tower

musee du quai Branly

Napoleon's Tomb

We were scheduled to visit two buildings/monuments today, but we decided to push ourselves and went for three! First stop: Eiffel tower designed by Gustave Eiffel.  Gustave submitted the proposal for a competition which was to design an entrance to the World's Fair of 1889.  The committee who selected his design chose him on one condition: he had to fund it himself.  They did not want to be held responsible if something were to go wrong structurally.  Gustave liquidated his business and put all of his eggs in one basket!  His only request was that the public were to be charged a small, affordable fee to go to the top.  Needless to say, he became a millionaire...

We then went to the musee du quai Branly designed by Jean Nouvell.  The museum was great, the architecture I am indifferent about.  It was completed in 2007 and seemed to be showing more wear than it should, but I suppose that could have been the intention behind the material selections.  The design wasn't all that cohesive either... however, I will give the space planning some credit.  It was difficult to get lost in the museum, which is often not the case. The designs for the displays were also really well done.  The exterior of the building was interesting because it had plants embedded into it (as shown in the photo above.)

Our last stop was to see Napoleon's tomb (which was free for students AGAIN! yay!)  It was an incredibly beautiful building which housed not only the tomb (over 6 other tombs), but also had a lot of artifacts from the battles that Napoleon fought. 

Another great day in the books!