Bienvenue à Paris!

I spent the morning catching up on notes for Canada Zouk Congress, then left for a short adventure. I left Heather at La Louvre and wandered out into le Jardin des Tuileries, saw la Tour Eiffel over the buildings a few times, and after marveling at the truly magnificent architecture of the buildings and grounds around me decided to try walking to the tower.  It couldn't be that far away, right?  I'm a New Yorker, and therefore I surely don't need a map... So my path took me across the Seine and the lock bridge, down Rue d'Orsay (past la Musée somewhere...).  It felt like the East Side of Central Park vs. West Side, even though I think it was North and South.  Anyway, I saw it on my left and began cutting through streets, and suddenly got to a corner and there it was. Wow! It was completely not what I expected.  It was brown from corrosion, not black metal or silver, and there were trees all around it.  I was on the back side, I suppose, not a plaza.  I always imagined it would be like the Washington Monument, isolated on a wide cement area to display it, not something integrated into the city in such an organic way.  Anyway, I set up my shot, borrowed a fellow tower gazer, and took my "garden gnome" photo.  Then hurried back to Heather...