Ah, Paris in November. The stuff of romantic moonshine in the English-speaking world? Maybe not quite as much as spring, but we had a fine time anyway. The pastries were good. The best, actually. Calling out to us from behind glass in pastry shops, expensive even when priced in francs, but entirely worth it.

I wonder whether Eiffel Tower postcards are readily available any more. I mailed this one from Paris in November 1994.

I like it even now because of the unusual angle. Reminds me of the few minutes we spent sitting on a bench pretty much under the structure, gazing up at it. At that angle, I thought, that is one impressive iron sculpture. So impressive that moviemakers knock it down a lot.

Except for the fact that it was designed by a Frenchman, and happens to be in France, is there anything essentially French about it? What if its plans for the Exposition Universelle of 1889 had fallen through, but the organizers of the 1893 Columbian Exposition had gotten wind of the design, and asked Gustav Eiffel to erect it in the future Jackson Park in Chicago? Would it stand there even now, a shape associated with Chicago to almost everyone in the world?