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The Adopted Torch
The marathon winds it way through a tunnel and ends near the Pont de l'Alma. The first time I ran Paris, I looked carefully for some sort of memorial where Diana and Dodi Fayed were killed in 1997. Nothing. As we emerged, I looked back and saw a large golden torch above the exit. Later, I went back to examine it more carefully. It was covered with notes and flowers. Apparently, a lot of people thought the same as I. It is actually a copy of the torch from the Statue of Liberty. But, it has been unofficially adopted as a memorial. 10 years have passed and crowds still descend on that traffic island, standing, looking, leaving flowers and notes... on a small bit of concrete never intended to handle such traffic, something the local residents would like to have changed. See the video below. |