Thursday, August 25, 2011

Paris, France "City of Love" 20 Aug 2011

We took a bus tour to Paris for two days.  All I can say....absolutely awesome!  Of course we didn't get to see all that could have been seen, so we will have to go back again someday, maybe when we get some visitors....hint hint!!  Even thou I took over 120 pictures, I scaled it down to give a glimpse of a few things we got to see.  The bus tour took 5 hours, if we took the train it would be 2 1/2 hours, if I drive we will be there in 1 hour!!! LOL  Enjoy the pictures as I try to explain each one.


The Notre-Dame Cathedral

The three portals into the cathedral of Notre-Dame

The middle portal,

The left portal,

The right portal, all have beautiful carvings

The rose window, depicts virgin Mary surrounded by figures from the Old Testament

Napolean's Tomb, directly below the golden  dome on the ground floor.

The Arc of Triumph, Napolean's triumphal arch, each carving depicts his victories, the arch was started in 1806, completed in 1836.  Napolean,s funeral procession passed through the arch 

These two characters always seem to jump in front of my camera!!!!

A shot of a many carvings on the arch


Inside the arch, with carved names

Also beneath the arch is the tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Opera National de Paris Garnier, another words opera house, designed for Napoleon III in 1862

close up shot of architecture on the opera house

Surrounding the opera house are ladies holding light fixtures

Glass Pyramid on the square of Museum of Louvre

The Louvre is huge, would take a whole weekend to see it all

Put all three pictures together and you'll have the whole museum!

The La Seine River, showing some of the beautiful buildings along the river

Museum D'Orsay, houses art from 1848-1914, formerly a railway station, sits along the La Seine River

Got a shot of the Louvre while crusin down the river

Conciergerie, an imposing gothic palace, originally home to the caretaker and guards of the Palais de Justice, then turned into a jail at end of the 14th century, Marie-Antoinette was held priosner here, it remained a prison til 1914, now a museum which displays its prison walls, guillotine, and sculptures of famous prisoners 

Some beautiful buidings along the river cruise

More beautiful buildings along the river cruise

Pont Alexandre III bridge,

Crusin the river, and the Eiffel Tower showed up

200,000 watt lighting system, starting at dusk it sparkles like a giant Christmas tree for 5 minutes every hour until 1 am.  Totally Awesome!

The boat that gave us our tour on the La Seine River

From the very top of the Eiffel Tower, 1,023 ft

Just another angle of the city, atop the Eiffel Tower

At ground level, looking up at 2.5 million rivets, 18,000 metal parts that can expand up to 6 inches on hot days (what the book states)!  Erected in 1889 by Gustave Eiffel was the world's tallest building until New York's Empire State Building in 1931. 

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