Paris has the Eiffel Tower, San Francisco has the Golden Gate Bridge, and London has Big Ben.

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In 1889, French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel officially marked the completion of the Paris tower that bears his name by unfurling the French tri-color atop the Eiffel Tower.

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Weddings are performed in gondolas at the Venetian or atop the Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas.

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"The Manneken Pis is like the Eiffel Tower for Paris, " says Ms. De Laveleye.

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In 1993 McDonald's was refused permission to open under the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

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EU, as the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben symbolise Paris and London.

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The building Libeskind most wishes he'd designed is one completely at odds with its surrounds -- the Eiffel Tower, which looms over Paris' uniformly mid-rise cityscape.

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Paris will officially present its 2012 bid at the Eiffel Tower on 16 January.

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Where else can you walk past a foreshortened version of the Eiffel Tower, straddling what looks like the Paris Opera, and think to yourself, compared to the pirate ship down the street that looks almost classy?

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Time is indicated by chimes, and rather than hands, intricately enameled dials depict a girl chasing a kite across Paris on one watch, while a love-struck man watches a shooting star over the Eiffel Tower on the other.

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