The Eiffel Tower in Paris...TX

***Special Alert - This is the first ever post done entirely by Greg so if you are reading this you better post a comment... even if it is just to correct my spelling or grammer. - Thank You, Greg

You can't leave Paris, of course, with out visiting the Eiffel Tower.
It "Ain't nothin' like the real thing, Baby"

"Ain't nothin' like the reeeal thing"

(the "real" pictures are from my 2005 work trip to Paris when Carlee was 3 months old)

Last Christmas we were at Market Street where they put up the huge tree that is probably about the size of the Texan Eiffel tower. I had Carlee reach out her hand like she was hanging on something and got a nice picture of her "hanging" from the Christmas tree. On this trip her form kind of changed to more of a holding than a hanging, but you get the point. Look for this same form for at least 2 more items in future posts from the trip - a prize to the first person who can correctly identify all of the things that Carlee is "holding" or "hanging" from. :)

Carlee can show everyone where Paris,TX is.

The kids did a little climbing on the Eiffel Tower. The one in France has an elevator (that's just too easy).

Check out that tower topper... Ain't she perty <~ you can only correct this spelling if you are not from Texas.

We came here on a little site seeing tour before leaving Paris for Arkansas. My mom and grandma grew up here (possibly my great-grandmother also who died at 100yrs old in 1985). This was Rebekah's first trip to Paris, TX so we also, went by the town square, the church where my parents got married, and the houses that my grandparents and great grandparents owned - right next door to each other. I have lots of good memories of visits when I was a kid but I knew the Eiffel tower was not there back then. So I was curious and googled it and here is an excerpt from a humorous article that I found. Apparently Paris, TX and Paris, TN were having a little Eiffel tower war when they each errected their towers in 1993...

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But at 60-ft. tall, the TN tower was edged out of faux-foreign architecture dominance by a mere five feet. The Eiffel Tower in Paris, TX was 65-ft. tall, built by the local iron worker's union. Tennesseans battled back by replacing theirs with one 70-ft. tall.... Texas town boosters knew they were on shaky ground for an enduring and unique civic claim (and reminders that they were the "Second Largest Paris in the World" and the inspiration for the title of the 1984 movie "Paris, Texas" were feeble at best). So in 1998 they added a large red cowboy hat to the tip of the tower, tilted to push a few extra feet into the lower atmosphere.
Many decried this as the dumbest idea ever, but to us it seemed in the spirit of other local attractions: a grave monument with Jesus in cowboy boots, and a junior college whose entrance is decorated with a statue of their cartoon dragon mascot.
Turns out the Cowboy Hat idea came just in time. The following year in 1999, Las Vegas almost humiliated all the little Paris's when they erected a 540-ft. tall Eiffel Tower Replica along the Strip. At half the height of the original (which is 984 ft. tall), this replica is nearly ten times taller than the other replicas.
But no hat.