Tourism takes a beating - footfalls drop in the iconic Eiffel Tower

#ISIS #paristerrorattack #EiffelTower #tourists The terror strike in Paris has robbed the iconic Eiffel Tower of its charm - it is one of the world's top tourist draws but visitor footfalls have dropped after the devastating terror attack on the French capital in November. Known as the Iron Lady of Paris, it received 6.91 million visitors in 2015 compared with 7.1 million in 2014.
This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 19 January 2016.

The tower is 126-years old and the figures have been indicated by the company SETE that runs the monument. It may be recalled that gunmen and suicide bombers acting in the name of the Islamic State group had attacked cafes, restaurants, a concert hall and the national stadium on November 13, leaving 130 dead.
Following this attack, visitors "hesitated" for about two weeks - the tower had been kept closed for two days and then partially opened for two days.
The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 for the Exposition Universelle and was lit up in the blue, white and red of the French flag after the November attack.
The wrought iron tower has 20,000 special light bulbs sparkle at night and attracts nearly seven million visitors every year. As per information of SETE - 80 per cent of visitors are foreigners, mainly from the United States and Canada, followed by those from Britain, Spain and Italy.

Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Three reporters of Al-Jazeera arrested for flying a drone in Paris

#drone #Paris #EiffelTower #Aljazeera #BastilleSquare The sightings of drones flying at night over important landmarks of Paris had the police in a real frenzy because the general presumption was that there was some ulterior motives, probably with links to terrorists.
The Paris police have now got hold of three Al-Jazeera reporters who were allegedly flying a drone just after drones in the night sky had sparked a terror alert in the city as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 25 February 2015.
The three journalists from the Qatar-funded news network have been arrested in a park in Paris from where they had been operating a drone illegally. The arrested men are aged 70, 54 and 36 and the arrest was done after the police saw a drone flying in the Bois de Boulogne woods in western Paris. The first man was piloting the drone, the second one was filming and the third was watching.
The motive of flying the drone is still not clear. Incidentally, flying drones without a license in France is illegal and it carries a maximum one-year prison sentence and a fine of 75,000 euros.
It may be recalled that, in the recent past, drones had been seen in the vicinity of important landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Bastille Square, the U.S. embassy, the Place de la Concorde and the Invalides military museum, where Napoleon lies buried. Obviously, the police would check out whether there is any link.

Washington monument is not as tall as has been believed till now

#washingtonmonument #uscapitoldome #eiffeltower The Washington monument, a stone obelisk that was completed in 1884 to honor the first president of the USA, was till now believed to be of height 555ft, 5in (169.2m). However, the surveyors of the Government have revised the height. The revised height now is 10 inches (25cm) shorter than what has been thought for over 130 years.
The new official measurement is 554ft, 7in (169m), as measured from the floor of the main entrance to the top as reported in news.sky.com dated 16 February 2015.
Of course, it is a mystery as to how this discrepancy has taken place and, one theory is that there was a pyramid-shaped tip that had been rounded off over time. This had been noticed by surveyors in 1934 and it was probably a result of frequent lightning strikes that melted the aluminum tip.
However, in the opinion of experts, the difference could be attributed to using different base points for measuring – probably, the base point being used now is not the same as that used in the 1880s.
The original measurement taken in 1884 considered four brass markers as a base for measurement. Those markers are available even now but are 9in (22cm) below ground – and it could be that when measurements were taken, those markers were at ground level.
Incidentally, when the Washington monument was completed in 1884, it was the world's tallest structure until 1889 when the Eiffel Tower was built. Even today, it continues to remain by far the tallest structure in the nation's capital, which strictly restricts building heights. Most of the buildings are shorter than the US Capitol dome, which stands at 288ft (88m).

Tourists are avoiding Paris after the Charlie Hebdo terror attack

#CharlieHebdo #Louvre #Paris #EiffelTower #touristsinparis If locals are to be believed, it appears that tourists are avoiding Paris as the French capital continues to reel from the Charlie Hebdo-related terror attacks. Even though the attacks happened nearly two weeks ago and, in spite of reassurances from the Paris tourist board, the tourists are staying away and the local vendors, especially in the vicinity of the Eiffel Tower are a worried lot.
The tourist department does not have any data on the extent of drop in footfalls but, the Louvre has revealed that the Education Ministry has suspended school visits to the Paris region, including museums. The reason cited is that the capital was on 'attack alert' status since last week.
Incidentally, the Louvre normally receives several hundred schoolchildren every day, and their absence partly accounts for the thinner crowds. Moreover, mid-January is usually slow as festive tourists return home after their New Year celebrations.
However, with 10,500 troops deployed across the country, including 6,000 in the Paris region alone, the security is on the alert in view of the attacks on French soil.