Adventures in Paris

Paris was amazing. We saw and did amazing things, I was with amazing ladies who I miss very much!   I've had people ask me, "Which did you like better. London or Paris?"  I have to honestly reply that I loved them both.  I really don't prefer one over the other.  I had such a wonderful time in both places.  I do regret that we didn't have more time in London though...

I tried to put these pictures in order, but of course they're not!  So, I will start with our last day in Paris and work backward.

After packing up, we had to look hard and ask questions how to get back to our parking garage.  We dropped off our suitcases and walked back to Versailles.  The Versailles Estate is beautiful and huge.

Versailles

The Palace of Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles.

When the château was built, Versailles was a country village; today, however, it is a suburb of Paris, some 20 kilometres southwest of the French capital. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime.

The Hall of Mirrors

The Royal Chapel

The Queen's Bedchamber

 

My cute friends in the Courtyard

How amazing is this gate?

The Fountain of Latona tells the story taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses, an ancient masterpiece providing numberous themes for the decor of Versailles.  An episode from Apollo's childhood is depicted here.  His mother Latona, having been ridiculed by the Lycian peasants, beseeches Jupiter for vengeance, who them turns them into frogs.

The Fountain of Apollo (why oh why didn't I get a closer shot?)

The Grand Perspective

Driving my friends car onto the Euro Tunnel train; which will take us through the chunnel back to England.

This was a fun experience in itself.  Just sitting in the car chatting while traveling under water.

One of my friends had a Rick Steves' travel guide book, and in there he had a walking tour which he recommended. So, we took his advice and went on it.  We were not sorry Rick.  

This is the city's oldest public clock.  It's been around since 1334.

 Conciergerie

 A palace and prison where Marie Antoinette was held.  I didn't even get a picture of her cell.  How horrible is that? 

 At the end of the 14th century, Charles V left the royal residence on the Ile-de-la-Cite for the hotel Saint-Pol, since destroyed, following the assassination of his father's advisors.  He appointed a steward, or "concierge", endowed with legal powers, to run the Palace and prison.  Numerous prisoners of Stae were kept here, such as Ravaillac, Henri IV's assassin.  In later times. the Revolutionary Tribunal sata in the Palace and used it increasingly as a prison.  The Conciergerie was listed as a historical monument in 1914.  

Sainte - Chapelle

  A gem of High Gothic architecture

This is a picture of The Upper Chapel.  This is a truly monumental and sumputuously decorated relilquary.  Sculptures and windows combine harmoniously to glorify the Passion of christ and create a feeling of entry into the Heavenly Jerusalem, bathed in light and colour.  The Sainte-Chapelle owes much of even its early fame to its stained glass windows.  

The 1,113 scenes depicted in the 15 stained glass windows tell the story of mankind from Genesis through to Christ's resurrection.  Fourteen of the windows, depicting episodes from the bible, should be read from left to right, from the bottom upwards.

Truly an amazing sight to behold!!

A view of Notre Dame and the Seine 

Palais de Justice

The Palais de Justice (French pronunciation: [palɛ də ʒystis]), located in the Île de la Cité in central Paris, France, is built on the site of the former royal palace of Saint Louis, of which the Sainte Chapelle remains. Thus the justice of the state has been dispensed at this site since medieval times. From the sixteenth century to the French Revolution this was the seat of the Parlement de Paris.

Place St. Michel

The Place Saint-Michel is known as the site of the Fontaine Saint-Michel (St. Michael Fountain), constructed by Gabriel Davioud in 1855-60. Nine major sculptors participated. Originally, the fountain's central statue was supposed to depictNapoleon Bonaparte, but the original conception came under criticism from opponents of Napoleon III; it was finally decided that the statue would be an image of Saint Michael, the Archangel (Saint Michel in French), with two dragons that spout water into the fountain and figures of the four classical cardinal virtues.

St. Severin 

The Church of Saint-Séverin is a Roman Catholic church in the Latin Quarter of Paris, located on the lively tourist street Rue Saint-Séverin. It is one of the oldest churches that remains standing on the Left Bank, and it continues in use as a place of worship.

Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore

Shakespeare and Company is the name of two independent bookstores on Paris's Left Bank. The first was opened by Sylvia Beach on 17 November 1919 at 8 rue Dupuytren, before moving to larger premises at 12 rue de l'Odéon in the 6th arrondissement in 1922.  During the 1920s, it was a gathering place for writers such as Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce and Ford Madox Ford.  It closed in 1941 during the German occupation of Paris and never re-opened.

The second is situated at 37 rue de la Bûcherie, in the 5th arrondissement. Opened in 1951 by George Whitman, it was originally named "Le Mistral" but renamed to "Shakespeare and Company" in 1964 in tribute to Sylvia Beach's bookstore. Today, it serves both as a regular bookstore and as a reading library, specializing in English-language literature. 

An Acacia tree nick-named Robinier, after the guy who planted it in 1602.

Deportation Memorial

The Mémorial des Martyrs de la Déportation is a memorial to the 200,000 people deported from Vichy France to the Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War. It is in Paris, France on the site of a former morgue, underground behind Notre Dame on Île de la Cité. It was designed by French modernist architect, writer, teacher, and town planner Georges-Henri Pingusson and opened in 1962.

Pingusson intended that its long and narrow subterranean space convey a feeling of claustrophobia.

A circular plaque on the floor of the underground chamber is inscribed: "They descended into the mouth of the earth and they did not return." Along both walls of the narrow chamber are 200,000 crystals with light shining through meant to symbolize each of the deportees who died in the concentration camps; at the end of the tunnel is a single bright light. Either side of the chamber are small rooms that seem to depict prison cells. Opposite the entrance is a stark iron gate overlooking the Seine at the tip of the Île de la Cité.

A "flame of eternal hope" burns and The Tomb of the Unknown Deportee bears the inscription: "Dedicated to the living memory of the 200,000 French deportees sleeping in the night and the fog, exterminated in the Nazi concentration camps."

At the exit to the chamber is the injunction, engraved, found at all sites memorializing the victims of the Nazis: "Forgive but never forget."

Statue of Charlemagne

Called the "Father of Europe".  Charlemagne's empire united most of Western Europe for the first time since the Roman Empire. His rule spurred the Carolingian Renaissance, a revival of art, religion, and culture through the medium of the Catholic Church. Through his foreign conquests and internal reforms, Charlemagne encouraged the formation of a common European identity. Both the French and German monarchies considered their kingdoms to be descendants of Charlemagne's empire.

Point Zero

* center of France *

Notre-Dame Cathedral 

Notre Dame de Paris,  French for "Our Lady of Paris"), also known as Notre Dame Cathedral or simply Notre Dame, is a historic Roman Catholic Marian cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. Widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture and among the largest and most well-known churches in the world ever built, Notre Dame is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris; that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra (official chair) of the Archbishop of Paris, currently André Vingt-Trois. The cathedral treasury is notable for its reliquary, which houses the purported crown of thorns, a fragment of the True Cross and one of the Holy Nails – all instruments of the Passion and a few of the most important first-class relics.

Though several organs were installed in the cathedral over time, the earliest ones were inadequate for the building. The first noteworthy organ was finished in the 18th century by the noted builder François-Henri Clicquot. Some of Clicquot's original pipework in the pedal division continues to sound from the organ today. The organ was almost completely rebuilt and expanded in the 19th century by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.

The position of titular organist ("head" or "chief" organist) at Notre-Dame is considered one of the most prestigious organist posts in France, along with the post of titular organist of Saint Sulpice in Paris, Cavaillé-Coll's largest instrument.

The organ has 7,800 pipes, with 900 classified as historical. It has 111 stops, five 56-key manuals and a 32-key pedalboard. In December 1992, a two year restoration of the organ was completed that fully computerized the organ under three LANs(Local Area Networks). The restoration also included a number of additions, notably two further horizontal reed stops en chamade in the Cavaille-Coll style. The Notre Dame organ is therefore unique in France in having five fully independent reed stops en chamade.

The cathedral has a narrow climb of 387 steps at the top of several spiral staircases; along the climb it is possible to view its most famous bell and its gargoyles in close quarters, as well as having a spectacular view across Paris when reaching the top.

I'm pretty sure we climbed more than 387 steps!!  My legs were on FIRE by the time we reached the top.

Aren't these guys cute?

View of Sacre Coeur from Notre Dame

The entrance into Notre Dame

View from the south

How about this view of Paris from the top of the Cathedral?  Pretty amazing

There are five bells at Notre Dame. The great bourdon bell, Emmanuel, is located in the South Tower, weighs just over 13 tons, and is tolled to mark the hours of the day and for various occasions and services, ringing in a resounding E♭. This bell is always rung first, at least 5 seconds before the rest.

This is a view from atop of the Arc.  You are looking at Champs-Elysees

The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a street in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Champs-Élysées is arguably the most famous street - and one of the most expensive strips of real estate - in the world. Several French monuments are also on the street, including the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de la Concorde. The name is French for Elysian Fields, the place of the blessed dead in Greek mythology. According to a much used description, the Champs-Élysées is la plus belle avenue du monde ("the most beautiful avenue in the world")

The Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe (Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile) is one of the most famous monuments in Paris. It stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle (originally named Place de l'Étoile), at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. The Arc de Triomphe (in English: "Triumphal Arch") honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.

The monument stands 50 metres (164 ft) in height, 45 m (148 ft) wide and 22 m (72 ft) deep. The large vault is 29.19 m (95.8 ft) high and 14.62 m (48.0 ft) wide. The small vault is 18.68 m (61.3 ft) high and 8.44 m (27.7 ft) wide.

One view from the inside of the Arc

Some of the names inside of the Arc

I'm not sure how many steps we climbed to get to the top, but it seemed like hundreds. This view is also so beautiful -you can see all of Paris from the top.

The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower nickname La dame de fer, the iron lady) is an iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris, named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Erected in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair, it has become both a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The tower is the tallest structure in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world; 7.1 million people ascended it in 2011. The third level observatory's upper platform is at 279.11 m the highest accessible to public in the European Union and the highest in Europe as long as the platform of theOstankino Tower, at 360 m, remains closed as a result of the fire of August 2000. The tower received its 250 millionth visitor in 2010.

The tower stands 320 metres (1,050 ft) tall, about the same height as an 81-storey building. During its construction, the Eiffel Tower surpassed the Washington Monument to assume the title of the tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it held for 41 years, until the Chrysler Building in New York City was built in 1930. However, because of the addition, in 1957, of the antenna atop the Eiffel Tower, it is now taller than the Chrysler Building. Not including broadcast antennas, it is thesecond-tallest structure in France, after the Millau Viaduct.

  This is as close as we got.  We decided we didn't want to wait in the long line and pay the outrage cost of going up.  Crazy you think?  Did you not see the fantastic views we were able to see from the Arc and Notre Dame?  We figured that was good enough.

the Louvre

The Musée du Louvre (French pronunciation: [myze dy luvʁ])—in English, the Louvre Museum or simply The Louvre—is the world's most visited art museum, one of the world's largest museums, and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, France, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (district). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet).

Slaves - detail of a group of two by:  Michelangelo

The Mona Lisa by:  Leonard De Vinci

Venus De Milo

The goddess of Love, wearing a diadem and earrings, is half-nude with her weight restring on her right foot.  The figure then defines several planes in space, a style common among sculptors since Lysippus.  But the face harks back to features from the 5th and 4th centuries BC, identifying the work as neoclassical sculpture.

The Victory of Samothrace

This compostie monument of the goddess Victory on the prow of a ship stood in the sanctuary of the Great Gods overlooking the sea.  Her large wings still seem to beat the sea air that blows her clothing against her powerful body.  Her head and arms are missing, but her right hand, discovered in 1950, re-creates the gesture of her raised arm commemorating the victory.

Psyche brought back to life by the kiss of Amor by:  Antonio Canova

Having been plunged into a deep sleep by Aphrodite, jealous of her beauty, Psyche is brought back to life by the kiss of Amor.  The moment is rendered magical by the neoclassical master.  The purity of the lines and graceful intertwining forms give the marble a remarkable weighlessness.  This masterpiece was acquired by Murat, who sold it to Napoleaon.

It was raining so hard when we left the Musee d' Orsay that we were looking for somewhere to quickly go.  We ran over the Musee d'Invalide

Les Invalides (French pronunciation: [lezɛ̃valid]), officially known as L'Hôtel national des Invalides (The National Residence of the Invalids), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containingmuseums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's original purpose. The buildings house the Musée de l'Armée, the military museum of the Army of France, the Musée des Plans-Reliefs, and the Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine, as well as the burial site for some of France's war heroes, notably Napoleon Bonaparte.

We had about 15 minutes before they turned us out back into the rain.  However we were able to see some pretty cool tombs.  Below is Napoleons

L'Hôtel national des Invalides

Clock from inside Musee d' Orsay

Sad to say, but this is basically the only picture I have from this wonderful museum.  I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly or not, but it was hard to take pictures.  You couldn't use a flash, so they weren't turning out well.?.  I do remember being sooo tired this day - I think I was also hungry and dehydrated.  I'm so glad I bought a book, so I can remember some of the things we saw.

The museum has sculpture, painting, graphic arts, photograph/cinema and decorative arts

Sacre Coeur

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica (French: Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, pronounced [sakʁe kœʁ]), is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Paris, France. A popular landmark, the basilica is located at the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city. Sacré-Cœur is a double monument, political and cultural, both a national penance for the supposed excesses of the Second Empire and socialist Paris Commune of 1871 crowning its most rebellious neighborhood, and an embodiment of conservative moral order, publicly dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was an increasingly popular vision of a loving and sympathetic Christ

In front of Sacre Coeur

Yet agian,  I'm not sure how many steps we (well me) labored to get to the top.  The view was worth it though. 

The entrance to Victor Hugo's house
Me with my friends Missy and Liz

 Kliss and I in front of Adele Hugo's portrait

The view from inside Victor Hugo's place - the place off to the left was a cute little park we were able to walk through.

Musee Carnavalet

The Carnavalet Museum in Paris is dedicated to the history of the city. The museum occupies two neighboring mansions: the Hôtel Carnavalet and the former Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau. On the advice of Baron Haussmann, the civil servant who transformed Paris in the latter half of the 19th century, the Hôtel Carnavalet was purchased by the Municipal Council of Paris in 1866; it was opened to the public in 1880. By the latter part of the 20th century, the museum was bursting at the seams.

In the courtyard, a magnificent sculpture of Louis XIV, the Sun King, greets the visitor.  Inside the museum, the exhibits show the transformation of the village of Lutèce, which was inhabited by the Parisii tribes, to the grand city of today with a population of 2,201,578.

The Carnavalet houses

about 2,600 paintings, 20,000 drawings, 300,000 engravings and 150,000 photographs, 2,000 modern sculptures and 800 pieces of furniture, thousands of ceramics, many decorations, models and reliefs, signs, thousands of coins, countless items, many of them souvenirs of famous characters, and thousands of archeological fragments. . . . The period called Modern Time, which spans from the Renaissance until today, is known essentially by the vast amount of images of the city . . . There are many views of the streets and monuments of Paris from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, but there are also many portraits of characters who played a role in the history of the capital and works showing events which took place in Paris, especially the many revolutions which stirred the capital, as well as many scenes of the daily life in all the social classes

Place des Vosages

The entrance to our rented apartment in Paris 

The eating area in our apt.

Quaint living area

Cute little kitchen where we prepared most of our nightly meals.  It was fun to sit together every night over a meal to talk and laugh, with nobody near to bother or over hear our conversations.

We snapped this picture the day we were sadly, leaving Paris

Some of the yummy pastries we bought...

a couple more 

These are the steet markings in Paris - I think they are charming.

I would love to go again someday.  I'm so glad I was able to go and spend almost two weeks with such wonderful women - this vacation will forever hold a special place in my heart.