Snow in Paris

the Eiffel Tower was closed yesterday because of 10 cm of snow. which made me think of all those blue Eiffel Tower snow globes...

i actually love snow globes with the Eiffel Tower (well, i like snow globes with just about anything inside)--and before you turn up your nose at this essential tourist item, consider that the Eiffel Tower in a snow globe is an AUTHENTIC HISTORICAL ARTIFACT.
yep. French glassmakers claim to have invented the decorative glass paperweight in the 1800s; the glass globe was probably perfected by Central European artisans. and somewhere en route, an anonymous glassmaker created the snow globe. the trinkets were in production by the mid-1800s. but most historians consider the Eiffel Tower snow globe produced for the International Exhibition of 1889 as the first hot-selling example of the breed. (the image above is an 1889 snowglobe owned by Bergstrom Mahler Museum in Wisconsin.)