Eiffel Underground

Might the days of lining up in the cold for the elevator up the Eiffel Tower be coming to an end? The newspaper Le Journal de Dimanche quoted a city official on Sunday as saying a call for bids will be made “in a few weeks” for the construction of an underground mall beneath the famous Paris monument. “A project is already under way,” the newspaper quoted Jean-Antoine Giansily, an assistant to city mayor Jean Tiberi, as saying. Giansily said the area would house a central ticket window, a nursery, lockers, a museum, a car park, as well as restaurants and souvenir shops. He said the construction would last about 30 months and would not begin before 2000. A similar concourse already exists underneath the Louvre museum. Built from 9,700 tons of iron, soaring 1,050 feet above the French capital and illuminated by 10,000 light bulbs, it has become a symbol of France.