I'll Take Paris

Chapter 3 - Minus 6° C

SexAnd The Eiffel Tower

Walkingaround Paris recently I finally realized what makes this city sosexy. It's the Eiffel Tower. As a woman walking within the physiqueof Paris, I can't help but feel seduced by this rising tumescenceevery time I survey the skyline.

Distancegrows fondness, they say. After 20 years away, in cities whoseskylines boast clusters of risings ejected from the ground on high,this singular majestic projection, the Eiffel Tower, rising clear andabove all other buildings in the Parisian sightline, serves tosubliminally initiate you into the masculinity, the sex appeal, ofParis.

It'swell noted throughout the ages that Parisian women in particular, andFrench women in general, have that certain sex appeal that even thebest observers are hard put to put their finger on as to what exactlyit is and wherefrom it emanates. It's not unusual in Paris to see awoman in her 70's all made up and sporting the latest well-madeItalian high-heels. Young women breathe sex appeal in Paris like therest of us breathe the basics like brushing our teeth. And now I knowwhy. It's that Eiffel Tower. Glancing up at it, from wherever youmight be standing in the city, you realize it's pluming its strength,its excitation, its tumescence – proudly and just for you.

Sure,it's subliminal. And yes, it's very French to affix a sexual play toa building, an historic monument, no less. But that's the Frenchnessinfused into it. The monument is in Paris. Could it possibly beanywhere else?

Downtowncores of N.Y., London, San Francisco, Sydney, Chicago, L.A. haveclusters of buildings that rise to the occasion. They dwarf oneanother. Not so in Paris. In Paris the faithful and singular EiffelTower is the one and only strong standing, virile building toweringover all others in the city. Sure, there are the churches. The domedSacre-Coeur that glints its ecclesiastical jewel in the late eveningsummer sunshine. The regal Notre Dame. The churches are, of course,feminine. It is only right – and French – that a city ofworld-renowned and treasured churches would have as their master theupright and stately, proudly erect, Tour Eiffel, to offer themcompanionship as they weather the ages, the epochs, the undulatingwaves of humanity. And you are right, I am pointedly ignoring theTour Montparnasse. I guess it's its modernity that makes it nigh oninvisible in the sightline of my mind's eye when I survey Paris'skyline.

Yes.As a French woman sets off to make her rendezvous, she knows she isaccompanied and escorted by the masculinity of the towering Eiffel,unashamedly declaring to her and to all that he is proudly awaitingher with anticipated pleasure and expectation. Under such audaciousappreciative gaze, any woman would emanate her perfume of sex appeal.

*Author'sNote : Any French person reading that will scoff and say,Written by a true (i.e. Truly Ignorant) foreigner ! Why ?Because the French nicknamed their La Tour Eiffel, La Dame de Fer,from its very first days.

Tour,or «tower», in French is a feminine word, preceded withoutexception by «la», the feminine form of «the» in French. And LaDame de Fer means TheIron Lady. In fact,when the Eiffel Tower was first constructed it was painted a fireengine red. So the French viewed it as their (iron) lady wearing ared dress. In recent years, the tower is now lit up at night bythousands of twinkling LED lights that go off on the hour every hourfrom dusk until 2a.m. When this began, the French said that theirlady had gotten a new dress, this time a beautiful, sparkly one.

So,Voilà. My essay above is a huge meaculpa to ignorance of how the French see their LaTour Eiffel.