PARIS, France — The Eiffel Tower is one of the most well know landmarks on Earth and at night it really puts on a show.
When the tower lights up with tens of thousands of bulbs that flicker in a well-timed lights show at ten and eleven at night, it’s a huge draw for tourists, especially during the Paris Olympics.
Just as the Eiffel Tower was only supposed to stay up for a short time but is still around today, the tower's lights were also supposed to be a temporary attraction that ended up being kept around.
The Eiffel Tower shows off about 20,000 light bulbs that were only supposed to be turned on once but ended up shining for years.
"We put them on for the new year 2000, the millennium, and they were supposed to be taken off but people loved it too much and we left them on," said Eiffel Tower tour guide Fredrick Dutriat.
Along with the tower's light show are 6,000-watt marine projectors that rotate 360 degrees and send a spotlight of light from the top of the Eiffel Tower that stretches 50 miles into the night sky.
While thousands of people come to see these lights, people working on commercial projects have to pay to film the lights because Paris has copyrighted them.
After all, the lights are keeping the city of light, shining through the night.
