Paris, part 4: Landmarks!

You saw this one coming, right?


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The Arc de Triomphe image again, but it's so I can show you the next photo...

...which is much more interesting. But it's more impressive when you've seen the whole monument

A government building and a church (which I forget the name of) that I wanted to go to. Closed! How French... grr




Almost the same picture, but I like this one better. It just doesn't show the other large government building so here are both images.

Opera! It's hard to capture the amount of GOLD on this building with a night picture and my small digital camera.

Sacre Coeur, looking above Paris. It's as much a part of the Paris skyline as the Eiffel Tower is.

Another angle! This was a really impressive building. You can see the copper statues are so old and have started to stain the building green.

Now for a bunch of Notre Dame photos...
Rose window from the outside.

Gargoyles!
We tried to go up to the top of the Notre Dame to see the "better" gargoyles, but I guess the dudes running the line wanted to go to lunch. Chumps. I hope a gargoyle spits on them.

There was a park next to the Notre Dame with a rose garden. The French like their rose gardens.

...and rose windows.

The Notre Dame has an interesting history. It's freakin' old, to begin with. Construction began in 1163 and went on for almost 200 years after. Kings have been crowned here, Joan of Arc gained credibility after death here, and then it was abandoned. Victor Hugo saw that city planners thought of tearing it down, wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and people collected money to restore it. Good thing or else gargoyles would have gotten pissed off, right?

how silly...

Paris part 3: walking through the city

Many European cities are deceptively compact, which means that not having a car is no problem. Traveling by foot through Paris is a great way to see much of the city in just a few days. Of course there's always the (OLD) metro to speed things up a little, but who really wants to travel underground in a city like this?

A quiet street in Montmarte.

The last vineyard in Paris, also in Montmarte.

A view of the Seine river, Eiffel Tower, and the island.

One of the many garden stores to the side of the Notre Dame. It was a really relaxing place to be after navigating through the tourists and trying to find a meal for less than 30 Euros. (We failed... and it was Chinese food. wtf?)

!!!

There's probably some kind of story behind these pokey deals (and a better name...) They are spread throughout the city and most of them have some different, elaborate design to keep people away from some thing or another. This one is called "Devil Fork Tails in a Hurricane." I bet I could still climb over it, no problem...

hm. picnic time?

Champs-Élysées fountain surrounded by sculptures.

As you can see, the French love their hedges and sculptures. It was incredible how many famous sculptures we saw outside, especially in this section.

And finally, a view of Paris from above. Not a very nice picture but I still like it.

Paris part 2: Louvre museum

The first place we went to in Paris was the Louvre. I couldn't have gone to Paris as an art student and NOT hit this place up. Anyway, it was an experience I would recommend to anyone with a couple of hours of time on their hands and who won't mind getting absolutely lost in this massive building.
There are a lot of photos here, but it's a tiny amount compared to what we saw. Most of these images are a more interesting point of view compared to what you would regularly see. We aren't labeling the photos with names, and titles, etc. because you won't read all of them anyway! :)
(click to enlarge the images)

Hey it's liberty!

Art on the outside too..

haha what a wig on that guy up there!!

Actually I was laughing at this :)

Hall o' sculpture

Hi mom, it's mercury

Such a cool image.

Why's that guy even pointing at me? Man...

Study of a character.

Detail of a zodiac on the ceiling. Very cool lighting.

Opium?

Li'l fat man! They made coins with his face from this sculpture.

The ceilings were art as well. Incredible.

Liberty, again?

Hall o' paintings.

Massive!
Napoleon proclaiming himself emperor.

This would make a cool painting.


This one just turned out so bizarre!

Soul escaping the tomb!

old writing...

...and old bread!

And at the end, the rest of the pyramid.