Sometimes travel facts come in the most unusual places. Yesterday at Arby's my son received a fold out book on the Eiffel Tower in his kid's meal. Very cool.

I learned a few things myself by folding the book out. Along with the standard info about the tower, such as when it was built (1889) and how tall it is (1063 feet), there are out of the ordinary details that people may not know.

Here are a few:

• There are 18,000 pieces in the tower
• Each year four tons of wipes, 10,000 doses of detergent, 25,000 garbage bags and 400 liters of metal cleaning solution are used to keep the tower clean.
• It takes 50 tons of paint to repaint it about every five years.
• When it was first built a lot of people thought it was ugly. This icon that now represents romance, at least I think it does, was to be torn down after 20 years.

Other Arby's travel oriented books are:

• Egyptian Pyramids
• The Colosseum
• The Statue of Liberty

The Eiffel Tower is book 4 of the 4.

Today's photo of the day is listed in the Gadling Flickr photo pool as the 10,000th picture added. And for that, it deserves some credit. Luckily, it's a stunning shot of the Eiffel Tower. Congratulations, RuthannOC!

Are you a Flickr user who'd like to share a travel related picture or two for our consideration? Submit it to Gadling's Flickr group right now! We just might use it for our Photo of the Day!

To celebrate France's rotating presidency of the European Union (EU), the Eifel tower is glowing blue. Additionally, twelve stars are mounted on the northwest face of the tower to look like the EU flag. From the Trocadero Gardens and The Pallais de Chaillot, you can get a square view of the spectacle, which is where the above picture was taken.

The tower will continue to glow blue through the end of the summer, so if you're in Paris make sure you stop by to take a look

Remember that for ten minutes at the top of every hour, strobe lights will be turned on the tower to make it sparkle, a feature that was originally installed earlier this decade but just brought back because of its populartiy.

Bon voyage!

On Monday we reported on plans for a temporary, upgraded observation deck that was to be built as part of the Eiffel Tower's 120th birthday celebration. Unfortunately, it turns out that those plans were not definitive.

As reported by the New York Times, David Serero, principal of Serero Architects, stated later in the week that the firm's proposal was no more than a spontaneous design that it had submitted to the Eiffel Tower management group. Apparently the designs were neither in response to a design competition nor a project contracted by the tower's management; the architectural firm had merely put pictures of the proposed project on its website and the media jumped all over it, assuming it was a fixed deal.

Looks like the Eiffel Tower will be left alone... for now.

Taking further our kicks of eating things either made by someone famous or with someone famous, now eating on something famous takes a new turn. Friends, friends and friends, you can now dine in new style at 410-feet on the Eiffel Tower.

Called Jules Verne (after the famous French author?), the revamped restaurant on this monument is the brain child of celebrity chef Alain Ducasse that will serve authentically French food (duh!), and will seat up to 120 people. For safety reasons, there will be no gas-cooking and the food will be prepared in a kitchen underneath the Champ de Mar garden which is located at the base of the tower.

With the 6.7 million tourists that visit this monument every year, dine at the restaurant and you will be taken up in a private lift. Meals are priced at $108 for lunch and $216 for dinner, making them totally "accessible to everyone".

Anyone enticed to go?

Known for his eccentric ideas of taking cuisine to new heights, Ducasse was heard saying "I don't work, I dream...I illustrate my dreams" -- the next one being a restaurant on Mars. Now that's somewhere I would love to go for a meal.

Few things emblemize Europe as well as the Eiffel Tower. The iconic structure is visited by, I imagine, hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, if not more. When I look at the Eiffel tower, I see crowds, over-priced souvenirs and the chance to pay a ridiculous price just to be stuffed into an elevator. But I'm a cynic -- I'm sure others look at the Eiffel Tower and see the glory of France.

And if you're one of those people, here's your chance to own a piece of the Eiffel Tower: French auction house Drouot is auctioning off a section of the original staircase that has since been replaced with the aforementioned elevators. The 15-foot, 1,543-lb structure is expected to fetch about 30,000 euros.

Also:

• You'll never guess where there's another Eiffel Tower
  
• A popular destination for suicide tourism?

Here is an interesting fact I came across. The number of people who visit France each year is equal to its population. Each equals 60 million. [source: National Geographic Traveler] Of the visitors, here are some statistics about Paris, the city that is partly responsible for the visitor bounty.:

• number of people who visit the Eiffel Tower: more than 6 million
• number of people who visit the Louvre: more than 5 million

In an aim to get more people to come to Paris, July 9 is the first ever Tourism Day in Paris. Visitors will receive a commemorative bracelet and a map to find participating venues.There are also other events of note that coincide. One of them is the Paris Cinema International Film Festival, July 3-14, where over 300 films will be shown. For information about both, check out Parisinfo.com where you can find all you need to know about travel in Paris and travel deals.

Still searching for the perfect stocking stuffer for your loved one? Well, if you're in Paris for the holidays you might want to check in with this dude selling many mini Eiffel Tower. He seems to have several and no real-takers. Maybe he's just getting started with his business day. Taken by localsurfer in Paris with some type of Lomo cam (Holga?), I'd say he did a good job capturing the guy's boredom or lack of interest while on the job.

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