No Eiffel Tower flower power

It seems that Eiffel Tower will not get its makeover.

After reports about Serero Architects winning the bid to temporarily redesign the Eiffel Tower’s viewing platform, The Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel said that it had never solicited a redesign and that it envisaged no changes to the tower’s appearance.

David Serero, principal of Serero Architects, now says that his firm’s proposal was merely a spontaneous design. I was neither in response to a design competition nor a project contracted by the tower's management; the architectural firm had merely put pictures of the proposed project on its website and the media jumped all over it, assuming it was a fixed deal.

Resource

Paris bargains - free museum admissions

Until June 30th 2008, some of the Paris best museums will be admission free.

• Musée Guimet - National Museum of Asian Art
• Musée Cluny - National Museum of the Middle Ages
• Musée des Antiquités Nationales de Saint-Germain-en-Laye - National Museum of Archeology
• Musée National de la Renaissance d'Ecouen - Everything from Renaissance sculpture and paintings to furniture
• Musée des Arts et Metiers - Houses the collection of the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, which was founded to preserve scientific instruments and inventions
• Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace - National Museum of Air and Space

Also, four other famous Paris museums are opening their doors free to students aged 18-25, with one night a week;

• Centre Pompidou - Wednesday nights
• Musée d'Orsay Thursday nights
• Louvre Friday nights
• Musee du Quai Branly Saturday nights

Eiffel flower – Eiffel Tower decoration for its 120th anniversary

Next year Eiffel Tower will celebrate its 120th anniversary. To commemorate the occasion Eiffel Tower will have a bit of a makeover.

Serero Architects of Paris have won the open competition to redesign the structure's public viewing platform and reception areas. The winning design will double the capacity of the public viewing area and does not require any modification of the existing structure.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Société d'exploitation de la Tour Eiffel explained that the plan to restructure the top of the tower aims to increase the quality of access. Average waiting times for the tower's elevators currently run at more than an hour at peak times.

Source:TrendHunter

To err is human, to ‘loath’ is Parisian.

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, Paris springs to mind as a perfect romantic destination, but maybe you should think twice.

According to the newest Teletext survey, over a third of Britons picked Paris as the place they would most likely to argue, due to "grey" and "difficult to navigate" city and brusque restaurant service. Marrakesh came second and Amsterdam third as lovers squabbled over allure of soft drugs and red light district.

The same survey reveled that one in 10 Britons ends a relationship with their partner while on holiday. On the other hand, one in four proposes to their loved one on a romantic city break.

Barcelona, Florence, Paris, Prague and Madrid were rated as the top cities for romantic escape.

So Victor Hugo was almost right, when he said ‘To err is human, to loaf is Parisian’. It had to be his French accent, I think.