PARIS —The Eiffel Tower carried a “USA 250” message in red, white, and blue on the evening of July 3, drawing crowds to the Place du Trocadéro to mark the 250th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence.
Shortly before 11 p.m., as dusk finally settled over the capital, the monument kept its familiar golden glow while the tricolor message lit up across its frame. A ripple of applause moved across the esplanade, where hundreds of onlookers, French families, foreign tourists, and a scattering of Americans abroad raised their phones to capture the moment.
The illumination marked the start of a summer of festivities organized by the City of Paris to honor the bond between the two nations. Two and a half centuries after France backed the fledgling republic’s fight for independence, the celebrations place sport at the center of the program and fall exactly midway between the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and the 2028 edition in Los Angeles….