Paris - Notre Dame

Notre Dame literally, Our Lady referring to the Virgin Mary is one of the most famous landmarks of Paris and one of the most famous examples of Gothic architecture employed in Churches over the world. Here's the wiki page on the Notre Dame. And here's a first look at the cathedral itself -

Like every landmark in the world, the Notre Dame is breathtaking at day and at night when it's all lit up. Here's a sneak peek.

The attention to detail of every figure up on the Church is definitely worth a mention... Its a lot like the painted sculptures of the Gods n Goddesses on the temple gopurams. And here's a look -

And the deity within -

The good part about visiting the Notre Dame is that the entrance is free because its a cathedral. And even if you are not a religious catholic, there is enough to see... the stained glass paintings inside the cathedral are some of the most famous in the world. Check out one of the most famous ones here -

And there is a perfect replica that helps one gauge the enormity of the structure inside the Church. Its also one of the first churches (including the Westminister Abbey in London) to employ the Flying Buttress architectural technique to help keep the large windows and other openings on the walls of the Church. Here is the image of the model which outlines the flying buttresses. And you can read more about the technique here.

And a look of all the candles that people light in order to make wishes-

And the famous rose windows of course - outside -

And inside - as stained glass-

The other reason which makes the Notre Dame so famous is that it sits on the Île de la Cité, which is the only naturally formed island in Paris and the smallest in France. A point on this island right outside the Westen Entrance to the cathedral indeed marks the Point Zero or the centre point of Paris from where all the intial distances were measured.

The view from the south of the Church, when one goes on the cruise of the Seine is the most beautiful o fthe Church. Of course it completely misses the interesting Western front entrance, but its the ony view that does justice to the enormity of the structure itself. And as always there are 2 views - the day view -

and the night view-

Why should you visit the Notre Dame?

1. Île de la Cité is a beautiful island and St. Michel a beautiful place. Its lined with cafes and shopsand makes the whole experience worth your while.

2. Its famous! And you've got to have a picture at Point Zero - the centre of Paris.

3. Its free and you get to see all the stained glass paintings and classic gothic architecture.

Paris - Musée du Louvre

Ah.. One of my favorite or should I say, my favorite spot in Paris? Long before the Da Vinci Code brought the Louvre into focus, I have dreamed of visiting it… They don’t say dream hard for nothing… what do you know.. I am living in the city of the Louvre! By large the most famous museum in the world, it houses some of the most famous works of art, most notably the Mona Lisa or the La Jaconde as she is called here in Paris, by Leonardo Da Vinci.

It is located right in the most famous district in Paris and flanks one end of Avenue de Champs Élysées while the Arc de Triomphe forms the other end. It is easily reached by Metro 1 which indeed forms the backbone to seeing the most famous sights in Paris. Here’s the wiki page on The Louvre. And this is a picture of the trademark Metropolitain sign as one exits the station Palais Royale Musée du Louvre.

The origin of the name itself is supposed to mean “Masterpiece” in one adaption and it has certainly been named appropriately. The façade of the Louvre is as imposing as it is on the inside. The famous glass pyramids are found inside the compound. But before we go in, here’s a view of one of the marvelous wings of the Louvre on the outside.

And one of the imposing grounds from inside the museum

Leading from the Champs Élysées through the Jardin Tulieres, the Louvre spans more than 1.5 km in length, which is very imposing by itself and has a horse-shoe shaped formation of 3 buildings forming the entire museum. This is a panorama of the outer façade of the museum and this one’s off the internet (I haven’t gotten into shooting panoramas yet)

Breathtaking, isn’t it? The entrance to the museum is through the main glass pyramid and leads down a spiral flight of stairs underground where one buys the 11€ tickets – completely worth every penny considering the mammoth collections that one gets to see. Here’s a picture of what lies beneath –

The Louvre is split into 3 wings – the Denon Wing (most famous for housing the Mona Lisa), the Sully wing (most famous for the Venus d’ Milo) and the Richelieu Wing.. The third most famous piece of art in the museum is the Winged Glory of Samothrace and indeed these 3 works form the famous Louvre Lite which are the only main 3 works that hurried or disinterested patrons visit. A synopsis of the Louvre Lite –

But they are missing a whole lot by not doing the span of the museum. The first time I was there, I spent close to 7 hours in the museum alone and maybe bored S into reconsideration of our association… But it is phenomenal and houses some of the most famed Michelangelo frescos, Rembrandt paintings amongst many others. And what’s more… At any given time, there is some exhibition or the other going on. For example, they had this Impressionist Movement theme a few days back and an Egyptian Culture exhibition before that and each of this is fascinating to the Art Lover. Here’s a few shots from one of the rich walls at the Louvre –

And some ceiling art –

The pyramid and the entire exterior of the Louvre inside the horseshoe is far prettier by twilight or night rather than by day when the daylight does nothing to reflect off the triangular panes on the pyramid. Indeed by night, the light bouncing off the water and the pyramids alone warrants a special trip to the Louvre after hours… sheerly for sightseeing –

Inside the Denon Wing, the Grand Gallery holds most fame. The single largest corridor within the museum and home to the dead-end room, the Salle de Etats which houses the Mona Lisa makes it a thing of epics. But its nowhere as exciting or huge as is described in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. Yes, the parquet floors are attractive and the gallery tasteful… but so’s the rest of the museum. Here, see for yourself-

Another feature that is famous is the inverted pyramid. Admittedly, no one seems to see reason behind these bizarre structures. But they do make for good photo ops.

What makes the Louvre fun for the common man is that at any given time, you can see apprentices or artists just settled out there with their paints and easels painting away and reproducing masterpieces. We caught a few of them at work on our last visit there…

And I bet that to the untrained eye, the reproductions look every bit as darned good as the Masters themselves… See what I mean? The one on the left is a work in progress while the one on the right is the original hanging off one of the walls of the Louvre.

Why should you go to the Louvre?
To see what the fuss is about. And I bet you’ll see it. If you’re not that impressed with the Mona Lisa, that’s pretty normal. She is small.. And they’ve cordoned her off so you really can’t see her close enough. Of course these days you are allowed to take as many pictures as you like of her or any other piece of art which sort of takes the fantasy away (check my blog on that here) but what the hell… If not the Mona Lisa something’s got to impress you… whether it’s one of the sacrophages or one of the other Da Vincis or just the sheer mammoth collection. It’s definitely something you are missing if you’re in Paris and you ain’t done it.

And last and definitely the least, I leave you with an image of something that has nothing to do with the Louvre - The Smart Car for those Dan Brown fans -

Paris - The Arc de Triomphe

Alright, this is another famous landmark of Paris and is called the Arc de Triomphe (will be referred as ADT hence in this blog), a war memorial commemorating soldiers who fought for the French. It is not too unlike our own India Gate. Here too the names of the generals who fought for France are inscribed under the arch but mysteriously, there lies the grave of the unknown soldier and thats literally what it's called in French as well. Here's a picture of it...

Well, yeah.. its decent you think. But really whats so great about it? Nothing much about the arc itself... but arguably its location marks the most famous street in Paris. It stands on the western end of Avenue d' Champs-Élysées, one of the most famous roads in the world. And it marks the centre of surely the busiest and most famous rond pont (round tana) in Paris. Here's what it looks like (courtesy http://www.answers.com/)

And one surely cannot appreciate the beauty till they have mounted the Arc. Yes, there is an underpass through which people can reach the ADT and watch as traffic goes by in 5 big streets and 3 small ones all located wonderfully central from this point. And as you get there, you can see the tomb of the unknown soldier...

A ticket of 9€ buys you the way upstairs which is a spiral of 195 steps... And seemingly neverending. What makes it a tad worse is that its a single track route. So if you paused to catch your breath, etc. you might be holding up a lot of unhappy people ina claustrophobic setting. A poor kid who turned out to be asthmatic held us up for almost 5 minutes. But once you climb those 195 steps, you are in the museum. You have to hand it over to the Parisians. They've made everything accessible with / without the object of making the money. The Eiffel Tower... the ADT... everything can be reached into just by shelling out a li'l dough. And in here, you can see an exact replica of the arc itself, lit in white..

And there's a cast of the head of a figure from François Rude's sculpture "La Marseillaise" at the museum upstairs. Check that out -

Another short flight of steps later, you are out in the open and with a view worth every cent spent... Here are some shots from up there - The La Defense -

The Champs-Élysées with the Louvre at the far end-

The Eiffel Tower -

The Sacre Coeur in the far distance-

And here's one of the Arc by twilight-

Come Christmas time... the entire street is lit beautifully and the road lives upto its repuatation of one of th emost beautiful roads in the world... With cafés and stores lining both sides, bright lights strung on trees and the festive atmosphere, no many other streets stand in competetion at all.

Why should you climb the ADT?
Though you wouldn't expect the Arc at a height of a mere 50 meters to give you a great view, you are mistaken! Paris is surprisingly flat for being one of the most famous capitals in the world and at this height it is much easier to make out the landscape of the city. Amongst the many famous landmarks that can be clearly marked out by the naked eye, your camera's zoom or one of the many viewing kiosks are - The Eiffel Tower, The Sacre-Coeur, Hotel Les-Invalides, Musee du Louvre, the entire Champs-Élysées, La Defense and many many more... And anyone in their sane mind would agree that the view of the Eiffel Tower from the Arc is far superior to that of the Arc from the Eiffel Tower (and far more significant if you ask me). Next stop.. The Musee du Louvre.

Paris - The Eiffel Tower

Welcome to Citystalkers! I started this blog a while ago but didn't get down to writing anything. As is, we got a wedding gift of a Canon EOS Rebel. Read all about that here. And there was never a better excuse than having great pictures. Ok, so lets jump right in.

Wikitravel is probably going to give you the best offhand page that there is for most travel places. Check out their Paris page here. But I wanted this to be a more personalised memoir. And living in a place like Paris warrants more than just one blog for the entire place. So, I thought I would cover it landmark by landmark. So I made one of my umpteen trips to the Eiffel Tower while the husband was out cricketing.

The weather started great yesterday morning... But by the time I got to the Eiffel Tower, it was cloudy and a tad dull. I got off at Trocadero (Metro 6 from Charles de Gaulle Etoile) and walked to the quad that exposed the Tower. Just what I like to see -

It had the usual calming effect on me. The clouds had gathered by the time I walked down the entire plaza to the other side and here's a glorious picture from there -

And I fiddled with the ISO settings on it and everything but I am yet to figure out whats better.. After sitting there and taking in the breathtaking view, I walked down to the foot of the tower towards Rue Gustave Eiffel (naturally the Tower stands on a street that shares its name). The tower is 1039 feet tall which is a third of a kilometre... And it does get to your neck once you try to look up at it. Here's what it looks like from the foot of the tower -

Once past the crowds that snaked all along the entire quad that were trying to get on top of the tower.. Ooh.. this is one of the views from the top - the skyline of Paris -

There are tonnes more of the beautiful buildings and the River Seine... But then I think the view is spectacular on the other side of the Tower from Champ-de-Mars. The sun usually falls very well on this side of the Tower illuminating the iron rails and sort of making the Tower glow. Because it was sooo cloudy I had to wait well over 15 minutes for me to get the exact second of sunshine. Judge for yourself...

As I decided to leave, I caught sight of some shrubbery on the other side of the park. And so here's a slightly different look of the Iron lady (as the Eiffel Tower is popularly called) -

Though I think she is far prettier by day, she is certainly worth a watch by night... See why?

But anyone who knows me knows that lights sheerly excite me. And why not? After dark, the Eiffel Tower has a million bulbs going off every hour at the hour for nearly 10 minutes. Its a spectacle worth a watch and looks utterly fabulous..

10 minutes of breathtaking beauty....

After going through this blog, I realize that its more a photo blog rather than a travel blog.. But I justify that by saying that I live in Paris. :) So this collection of blogs are the home blog and are going to cover each landmark in pretty good detail. More of Paris in future blogs... Hope you enjoyed this one. To read all about the Eiffel Tower, visit this wiki page.