Eiffel Tower with Red Cowboy Hat

Sometimes the weather doesn’t cooperate with sightseeing and taking photographs. Although I would never claim to be an actual “photographer,” I realize that this cloudy day was not even acceptable lighting, let alone good. But, like most places I visit, I was passing through and didn’t have time to stick around and wait a day or two for sunshine. I typically make only minor changes to my photographs before posting. Maybe lighten them a little, crop them, but rarely major work (I don’t even have Photoshop, let alone know how to use it). I did a little more with this one, as the cowboy hat didn’t even look red.

I anticipated this to be one of the highlights of this journey in 2010, one of my earliest excursions. I mean, really, an Eiffel Tower with a red cowboy hat stuck on top??? Believe it or not, the hat is actually bright red! Despite the fact that the day was gray and cloudy, it was really quite interesting to see this site.

According to the stories told to me at the time of my visit, this tower was built approximately the same time as a nearly identical replica tower in Paris, Tennessee. My visit to the Paris, Tennessee Eiffel Tower is documented here! But, this is in Texas and there was no way that Tennessee would get away with building a taller tower than the Lone Star State. After all, everybody knows everything is bigger in Texas. So, the Paris, Texas Eiffel Tower was fitted with a large red cowboy hat, making its total height 65 feet, or 5 feet taller than the Tennessee replica. The hat is tilted, not because it’s a kind gesture to “tip your hat” but because with the tilt, even a few more feet of height were gained. Wikipedia has a good article here about this “odd & unusual location.” Now, of course, both replicas are dwarfed by the replica at the Paris casino in Las Vegas, NV which is over 500 feet tall, more than 1/2 the size of the original tower in Paris, France.