I spent yesterday afternoon with friends Sam and Christine, walking around the Eiffel 'hood. Sam is a high school classmate and fellow percussionist in the school band - in these pics, Sam was the one with the three drums on the left in the wide shot, and I was the xylophonist (Sam's in that photo too, in the left corner), and you can even listen to us here, circa 1979 (ignore the screaming of my mother and the other band parents). We hadn't seen each other in well over 30 years. THIRTY DAMN YEARS; sure doesn't feel like it was that long ago, though. Through the magic of Facebook, we have been back in touch for a little while now, and when I found out he and his lovely lady Christine were coming to Paris I was thrilled to reconnect... and to take them to see this amazing tower, up close and personal.
As we walked around and eventually installed ourselves in a café terrace, we had a blast reminiscing with stories about some of the stupid stuff we all did, way back in the day, and wondering how our wonderful band teacher, a former Marine, ever put up with ANY of us. It was the 70's, and if you've ever seen That 70's Show? Yeah, it was pretty much exactly like THAT only with band practices.
Even on a grey day with rain threatening, La Tour Eiffel is always an amazing sight and although I have no interest in climbing the tower any more, I enjoy being able to really look at it every now and then. I think the French take it for granted, but every time I see it, I still think: "Wow. Look where I get to live." And I'm grateful to be able to share it with a visiting friend every now and again.
