Eurail Early Bird Pass Promotion
From:
raileurope.com
Planning that European spring or early
summer vacation? The early bird catches the train - and receives one free
travel day! Book a 6, 8 or 10 day Eurail Selectpass and travel up to six months
out from the date of purchase.
Click
here for more
information.
New Look for Eiffel Tower
From:
The Guardian
The elegant, tapering signature of the Eiffel Tower is to be reshaped, altering
the skyline of Paris, in time for the structure's 120th anniversary next year,
the Société d'exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (Sete) has just announced.
Serero Architects of Paris has won the competition to redesign the structure's
public viewing platform and reception areas. The winning design (above), which
will be 276 metres (905ft) above the ground, will not require any permanent
modification of the existing structure. It will double the capacity of the
public viewing area on the tower's top floor.
The new platform will be bolted onto the tower using a web of Kevlar, an
extremely strong and lightweight aramid fibre used in the construction of racing
cars and body armour. The new platform will use a cantilevered design similar to
the way that an aircraft's wings are attached to the fuselage.
The design is already causing controversy, with critics questioning the
wisdom of tinkering with the famous silhouette and spending money on upgrading a
tourist attraction which attracts 6.9 million visitors a year.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Sete 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.
Gustave Eiffel designed the tower as a temporary structure for the 1889 World's
Fair. Initially rejected by the French public, it is now the most visited
fee-charging monument in the world.
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