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This is Point
Zero - the spot on the Isle de la Cite adjacent to Notre Dame Cathedral
from which all distances are measured in France. I took this picture on
April 11 when Kathleen and I were in Paris. |
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I actually took this picture
of Notre Dame at the end of the day - with the sun setting to the west.
But, it is a good one start with. Notre Dame is located on an island in
the Seine River called the Ile de la Cite - the Isle of the City. The Ile
de la Cite is where Paris began - a fortified island in the river. The cathedral
remains "Paris's historic and geographic heart, a place of worship
for more than 2000 years." |
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The current cathedral
was begun in 1163. Napoleon crowned his empress here. It is a gorgeous gothic
structure with a beautiful interior. |
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The circular rose
windows, one shown here, are among the prettiest in the cathedral. |
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I have shown photographs of Charlemagne
at other locations on this site. But just in front and the the right side
of the entrance to the cathedral is this statue. Charlemagne played such
an important role in early French and western European history, that he
is worth showing one more time. Also, I might remind you that he is my
relative!
Charlemagne was crowned king in 771 and
became the First Holy Roman Emperor in 800. His reign is often considered
to the period of time that marked the birth of "modern" Europe.
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The Ile de la
Cite is shown here. You can see how the river separates and flows (it is
flowing toward you) around the island. You can see the two towers of the
cathedral in the center. The Parisians and tourists alike were dressed with
warm clothing. It was sunny, but slightly cool - perfect for strolling along
the banks of the Seine. |
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This is a closer
look at the Ile de la Cite. It was and remains the core of Paris. It is
here that the earliest inhabitants of Paris, the Gaulish tribe of Parisii,
settled in about 250 BC. |
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I was standing
on a bridge over the Seine while taking this picture. In the far distance
you can just make out the Eiffel Tower and coming up the river past the
next bridge is one of the many tourist boats. You can also see the brown
haze over the city. |
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This is taken
near where the river begins to turn as it passes the Eiffel Tower. This
is looking upstream back toward the center. On both sides are tourist boats
docked waiting for tourists to fill them. |
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This is a great
picture of one of the older bridges and the old structure on the left. We
were told that Marie Antoinette was imprisoned where the first two towers
can be seen. |
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Over the Seine
are many bridges, but this is one of the most beautiful. A close-up is shown
below. The Eiffel Tower looms in the distance on the left. |
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This is the right
bank side of the bridge shown in the previous photograph. The columns and
golden horses are very impressive. |
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On the right bank
of the Seine is the magnificent Louvre. It is "u" shaped, but
greatly elongated. The photo here shows the bottom part of the "u."
The two side stretch to the left, or down river a great distance. I will
show that to you as we go along. The Louvre was originally the royal palace,
but is now the world's largest and, some would say, most famous museum (perhaps
the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia may rival that statement). |
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This is part of
the river side of the Louvre, the left part of the "u" looking
up from the bottom. Did that make sense? The "u" is absolutely
huge. I think these pictures will demonstrate that. |
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This shows the
rest of the left part of the "u" of the Louvre. Look at its length!
In the picture above, pretend you rotate your head to the left - that is
what you see! |
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You can enter
the inner courtyard of the Louvre (inside the "u") through these
archways or through similar ones on the other side. Also, you can enter
from the open end of the "u". Remember, that this building is
now a museum. Can you imagine how much time it would take to visit all exhibits.
I will show you a few later. |
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This is the inner
courtyard of the Louvre. The right side of the "u" is the long
part of the Louvre shown here. The main entrance to the Louvre is now a
modern glass pyramid. You can just see the side of it on the right side
of the photo. |
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You can see the
pyramid! It is how you enter and exit the Louvre. As you enter the pyramid,
all bags are checked by some type of screening machine. Then you take two
escalators down to get some information. Next, you can enter the three main
parts of the museum (the bottom and two sides of the "u". As you
enter each of those, your are checked to ensure that you have the right
pass or ticket. We had a three-day, 30-euro pass that permitted us to enter
all museums during the three days. |
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This is inside
the pyramid. You can see the entrance and the escalators. It was a very
efficient method of moving thousands of visitors in and out of the museum.
Now let's take a look at the three most famous items in the museum. |
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This room contains
perhaps the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa. You can see
her on the back wall and the people waiting to see her. Of course, she was
painted by Leonardo da Vinci (not Decaprio). I will take you up closer. |
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Here she is -
the Mona Lisa! She is covered with a tinted glass, so it was hard to get
a good photo of her. The next one is closer. |
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I am sorry about
the quality of this photograph, but with the tinted glass and my digital
camera and not using a flash, it is the best I can do. At least you have
see her. She was painted in 1503. |
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Here is the information
that went with the Mona Lisa. This says that the woman is Lisa Gherardini,
wife of Francesco of Giocondo. |
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There I am with
the Mona Lisa. Additional proof of my visit to the Louvre and to Paris.
Although I have to say right now, it is merely a memory. |
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After searching,
I finally found the Venus de Milo. You can see this marble statue down at
the end of this long hallway. |
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I don't know much
about the Venus de Milo, but she is apparently one of the most famous statues
in the world. It looks to me as if she needs a shirt! Notice the fellow
to the left - a Scot in kilts. Hundreds of Scots where in Paris for some
reason. They were all parading around in the kilts and playing their bagpipes
- it was great! |
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The third famous piece of art
is the Victory of Samothrace or Winged Victory. I don't know much about
it either, but here it is. |
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This is the Winged
Victory again. You can see that it was located on a huge platform that has
been recreated here. |
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As you leave the
courtyard of the Louvre, there is a rather large arch known as the Carrosel
Arc de Triomphe. It is not the same of the huge Arc de Triomphe, but it
was impressive and pretty. It opens to a huge park that historically were
the gardens of the Louvre when it was a palace. Let's walk that direction. |
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This is the palace
garden area or now the park associated with the Louvre. It is huge - I keep
using that word, but things are big in Paris. It was probably a quarter
mile wide and and half mile long. |
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The Louvre Park
- originally only for royalty. Now we peons can stroll through it. |
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This is in the
middle of the Louvre Park. I sat here and read a chapter in a spy thriller
by Robert Ludlum. Paris is the focus of this novel so it was fun to read
it while in Paris. In the distance you can see a tall obelisk. Let's walk
up there and see what it is. |
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On the other side
of the pond are gates which open to the Place de la Concorde. This huge
square is often choked with traffic. More than 1000 people, including Louis
XVI and Marie-Antoinette, were guillotined here in the early 1790s. The
obelisk, a gift from the viceroy of Egypt, was erected here in 1833. |
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You can see some
of the traffic moving around the square, Place de la Concorde. The obelisk
is in the center and the entire square is flanked by the columns shown here.
On one of my metro excursions, I walked out of the exit and found myself
right here. Let's move across the Seine to the left bank and see other impressive
structures. |
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Some distance
from the left bank of the Seine is the Hotel des Invalides or what is now
the Army Museum. Les Invalides was founded by Louis XIV in 1674 to house
wounded (invalid) war veterans. The Army Museum now holds an enormous collection
of arms, armor, and uniforms dating from the 17th century. |
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Here is a nice
view of the moat around the Army Museum, a collection of cannons, and the
Eiffel Tower in the background. We will eventually get there! |
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This is the courtyard
of the Hotel Des Invalides. The three arches in the bottom center are the
entrance and exit. |
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Behind the Hotel
Des Invalides is this building - Napoleon's Tomb. Many of you probably have
seen memorials to Lincoln and Jefferson. This is like those structures,
but this actually contains the remains of Napoleon, whereas Lincoln is buried
in Illinois and Jefferson in Virginia. Let's take a look at the tomb. |
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This is where
Napoleon is buried. Supposedly, there are seven caskets inside this stone
structure. Impressive! |
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The photo above
is looking down at the tomb. This is looking at it from ground level. It
was a little dark, so the photo is not of the best quality. Well, off to
the Eiffel Tower - my feet are sore and I am not yet the farthest distance
from the hotel. |
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On my way from
Napoleon's Tomb to the Eiffel Tower, I passed many cafes and restaurants
and pretty Parisian streets. Along one of them was this French flag. I liked
it so I took a picture of it. |
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As
I turned the corner, this is what I saw - the Eiffel Tower. It is as impressive
as you can imagine! Architect Gusave Eiffel created this tower for the World
Exhibition of 1889. At the bottom of the tower are four huge stone pillars
on which the tower rests. At those pillars, four elevators carry people
to three levels, the bottom, middle and top. You can see them in this photo.
I waited in line for about 45 minutes to buy a ticket. With about 70 other
people packed into an elevator, I rode to the second level. I waited in
line another 45 minutes and finally was taken to the top level. |
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This shows part
of the structure of the tower and the first level. Elevators go from each
corner to the first and second levels. Then smaller elevators carry you
to the top level. I ate lunch under the Eiffel Tower just before I took
this photograph. |
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This is looking
straight up toward the top of the tower. At the top level, you are 1,000
feet up and have an marvelous view of Paris. Let's take a look. |
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This is looking
toward the southwest along the Seine. Bridges, barges, and boats cross and
line the Seine. |
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This is looking
to the southeast. Eiffel Tower park is at bottom center. The sky was very
hazy, so the view was not the best. |
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This is looking
just west of north. This is a great view of the compact, apartment type
city that is Paris. To the upper left, you can see the Arc de Triomphe. |
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This view is eastward
toward the center of Paris. The Seine, the Place de la Concorde, and the
Louvre Park. Also in the center, a green strip to the right can be seen.
That is the green space in front of the Hotel Des Invalides. |
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This is looking
west from the Eiffel Tower. The complex at the bottom of the photo is the
Palais de Chaillot, the Chaillot Palace. This honey-color, Art Deco culture
center facing the Seine (at the bottom of the photo), was built in the 1930s.
It houses three museums. |
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As I began my
walk to the Arc de Triomphe, I stopped to take one final picture of the
Eiffel Tower - perhaps the most enduring symbol of Paris. |
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My path to the
Arc de Triomphe took me along Kleber Avenue. This is the side view of the
Arc and one of the 12 avenues that converge on the Arc. |
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This is the west
face of the Arc de Triomphe. This 164-foot arch was planned by Napoleon
to celebrate his military successes. Napoleon had been dead 15 years when
the Arc was finished in 1836. The only way to get to the Arc is via a pedestrian
underpass. From this side runs the Charles de Gaulle Avenue and from the
other side runs the famous Champs Elysees Avenue. Under the arch is France's
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. |
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This is France's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,
located at the base of the Arc de Triomphe.
I had reached the farthest point west
from the hotel. It was now time to start back. I had a three-mile trek
ahead of me. My goal was to walk the length of the Champs Elysees.
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As I started toward
the center of Paris, I turned back and took this photo of the Arc de Triomphe.
The Champs Elysees is "the cosmopolitan pulse of Paris . . . originally
laid out in the 1660s." It is now home to cafes, restaurants, airline
offices, car showrooms, movie theaters, and chic arcades. |
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This is the north
side of the Champs Elysees. Thousands of pedestrians were going both directions.
The way I am walking is back to the Place de la Concorde - 1.6 miles away. |
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An additional
view of the Champs Elysees taken from under the Arc de Triomphe. |
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Located on the
Champs Elysees is the famous Lido nightclub. I don't know much about nightclubs,
but apparently those who know about nightclubs, hold this view. I understand
that it is also very expensive. |
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On my way along the Champs Elysees, I
ran into Brad, Paul, and Brad - the three amigos. They were headed toward
the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe.
By the time I got back to the area of
the hotel, I was bushed, beat, dog tired! I bought something to eat near
the Pompidou center then crashed. I had to try to prepare for another
day of walking!
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