A towering success on social media

Lena Von Schonlaub used Eiffel Tower Stadium as a backdrop for her own personal photo shoot.

Von Schonlaub shifted her head from side to side, smiling broadly while she held her phone in front of her face and clicked over and over. Paris' iconic Eiffel Tower hovered right behind her, overlooking the site where beach volleyball is being played at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

It has been one of the most popular attractions of the Olympics, drawing hundreds of people looking for the best photo to post on their social media pages. The perfect setting for a digital age.

"I think it's the most beautiful location you can have," said Von Schonlaub, who traveled to Paris from Munich, Germany. "It's so Instagrammable."

The sand and upbeat music, provided by a live DJ, always give beach volleyball a party atmosphere. For many athletes and visitors, Eiffel Tower Stadium offers an unparalleled backdrop.

The 13,000-seat stadium was built specifically for the Olympics at Champ de Mars, a garden where Parisians and tourists typically sit on the grass for picnics or July 14 firework displays. The site draws hundreds of people on any regular day, but since the start of the Olympics, people are buying tickets to beach volleyball matches just to squeeze through crowds of people to get the perfect selfies and videos with the tower and sand in the background.

TikTok said the Eiffel Tower location tag on its app had over 80,000 posts on Sunday, with the beach volleyball hashtag around 88,900.Athletes from sports all across the Games have come over. French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited the stadium on Wednesday, posted a selfie video from the top row of the stands facing the Eiffel Tower.

Right around 10 pm Sunday, the lights at the stadium dimmed. The tower lit up. Orange streaks painted the blue sky. Suddenly, the tower began to glitter and everyone "ooh'd" and "ah'd" in harmony. They all raised their phones, the same image displayed thousands of times throughout the venue.