Paris, France.
Couldn't have timed my first ever trip to Paris any worse. I was jumping all around Europe, a few days in Prague here, a few in Warsaw there, picking destinations based as much on the departure time of the flight and whether or not I could sleep in as much as on the shots I thought I could get. It wasn't until I landed in France I realised it was the start of the World Cup Soccer (yes, I said soccer) which was being played all over the country and bringing in untold hoards of fans from all over the world. I'd booked a room for three nights in Montmartre which happened to be where every Irish soccer fan, or maybe it was every single Irish person in the world, had also booked a room. It was an unbelievable sight. Every night there were thousands upon thousands of green clad Irish men and women out on the street drinking, singing and generally having a good time. The police were forced to block the streets because it became impossible to drive through, there were empty beer cans, bottles, rubbish, urine (and worse) all over the place, night after night and, from what I saw, not one fight.
All of which helps explain my Eiffel Tower shot. To facilitate the extra millions of World Cup tourists, all the usual iconic Paris locations had extra security barriers or were draped with World Cup signage or were otherwise impossible to get close to to photograph (which is why I don't have a shot of the Louvre). This shot was the only angle I could get that didn't include World Cup signage. Even so, I'm pretty happy with how it came out.
