Visiting La Defense in Paris

Our last hotel in Paris was the Hilton in La Defense, the business district of Paris. It is also at one en of the historical axis ("Axe historique") or the Triumphal Way ("Voie Triomphale").

image from Wikipedia

At the other end is the Louvre. And, in between are places such as the Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, and the Luxor Obelisk.

The large monument in La Defense is this large, cube-shaped arch known as the Grand Arche which was completed in 1989. It was built as a monument to humanity and humanitarian ideals. My brother and daughter are climbing the many steps in this picture!

And, here's a picture of the Grand Arche from the distance. On the left side, close to the arch, is a mall called The Four Times (or "Les Quatres Temps"). We shopped and ate here as our hotel is just to the right of this monument.

And here's the view (zoomed in) from the top of the steps of the Grand Arche. You can see down the busy street of Champs-Elysees to the Arch de Triomphe.

On our last morning in France, we split up and I took a photo walk while the others shopped. Here's a better view of Champs-Elysees and the Arche de Triomphe. I really wish we would have went to the top of the Arche and looked back towards La Defense!

A very neat looking water-fall.

 

 

An interesting sculpture.

 

 

A self-portrait (& I did do a little shopping... for sweets! Ha!)

 

I played with my camera's settings... a black & white with the colorful fountain in

front and the Grand Arche in the back.

 

Images of buildings in a building (in b&w).

 

Another self-portrait with another setting...

 

 

And the "Carrousel; Jules Verne". This was so amazing with the beautiful artwork!

 

I tried to read it when I got home, but had trouble sticking with it. I loved these images though!

And, with that, we left Paris... and France...

A Paris Cruise: Bridges & More

We got caught in the rain on the day we decided to take a cruise down the Seine. In Paris, there are 37 bridges over the Seine. Each is unique and we enjoyed seeing a handful of them.

But, before we get to the bridges, here's a view of the Eiffel Tower on this rainy day.

 

And this is Pont Alexandre. (Pont is French for 'bridge'.) It was built between 1896 and 1900 for a world's fair. It is named for Tsar Alexander III of Russia and his son, Nicholas II, laid the first stone. It features art nouveau lamps and Nymphs of the Neva with the arms of Imperial Russia (double- headed eagle). On the other side would be Nymphs of the Seine with the arms of France.

The golden winged horse is also part of Pont Alexandre. The building with the glass roof is known as the Grand Palais (which we did not visit). This was also built for the Universal Exposition, or world's fair, of 1900. Today, it often hosts art exhibitions.

This building was also finished in 1900. It was originally a terminis for the Paris-Orleans Railway. It now houses the Musee d'Orsay which we visited on a different day.

A couple on the bridge of "love locks" which we walked across on another day. I think this image looks so Parisian! Maybe they were putting on their own lock?

This is Pont Neuf, which means "new bridge". However, it is actually the oldest bridge crossing the Seine in Paris! King Henry III laid its first stone in 1578 and it was completed in 1607 under Henry IV! There are almost 400 of these faces on the bridge. Each of them unique! They are called "mascarons" which is Italian for "mask."

More mascarons on Pont Neuf.

This bridge is the Pont Saint Michel which was built by the request of Napoleon III.

A view of Notre Dame from the 'back' showcasing the flying buttresses.

 

This bridge is the Pont de Bir - Hakeim which has two levels - a lower one for vehicles and pedestrians and an upper one for the Metro. I believe this statue is called "Labor" by Jules-Felix Coutan.

This is the same bridge with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

 

And, after we got off the boat, we came across this... the "Flamme de la Liberte"! It is an exact replica of the flame held by the Statue of Liberty which was, of course, a gift to the United States from France!

Visiting Musee d'Orsay

 

Outside of Musee d'Orsay - photo from Wikipedia

We visited several art museums while in Paris, including the Musee d'Orsay. This was one of our favorite art museums, though we didn't have much time here. We saw only a fraction of it - and we'll just have to go back some day!

 

 

We started out with lunch at the restaurant. It was gorgeous!

 

 

You aren't allowed to take photos in the exhibits, but many people take a photo like this from one of the upper floors. We saw works by Cezanne, Degas, Gaugin, Monet, Renoir, Seurat, and Van Gogh.

 

 

Alex and I spent quite a bit of time looking at these 'puppets' from a display about the Chat noir Shadow Theatre. As the name implies, these figures would make shadow figures and stories were told in that way.

 

 

And, isn't this a great one?

 

 

The museum is built in an old railway station and has several gorgeous clocks including this one.

Visiting the Gardens of Versaille

I don't remember if we did something else in the morning, but by the time we got to Versailles via train from Paris, we only had a few hours to look around! The line to get inside the palace was very long, so we chose to just walk around the gardens instead. Some day, I will go back and tour the palace!

Our first view of the palace.... so much GOLD!!! And, the cobblestones... OUCH!!!

 

 

The first fountain inside the palace gate.

 

 

We are very close to the fountain, right behind the palace. I think practically everything you see is Versaille's Gardens! Amazing!

 

 

A view back towards the palace and that original fountain.

 

 

It was a beautiful day as we walked around. And besides the beautiful fountains, flowers, columns, and landscaping, there are a lot of statues! And, there is beautiful classical music playing over the speakers. I loved this! It really added to the atmosphere.

 

 

These are marble columns off to one side of the main pathway. It was my favorite place, with many small fountains all around a central fountain.

 

Another view... with Alex.

 

 

I was playing with the fish-eye setting on my camera and liked how this turned out. When we first saw this fountain, at the back of the gardens, the water was spounting. But, each fountain is only on during certain times. Beyond this, you can see a 'lake' which is actually more like a city park and not part of Versailles.

 

 

Another 'fish-eye' photo taken from the same spot (near the back of the gardens) but looking back towards the palace.

 

 

Me in the gardens with the palace behind me. (Basically the same spot.)

 

 

A beautiful, tree-lined walk off to one side.

 

 

This is beyond the gardens into the 'public' area. You can see people boating and there were a lot of bicyclists riding by. I wish I could have joined them!

 

 

Loved this photo of the fountain with the trees behind them... just wish I would have waited until there weren't people walking by. Still, gorgeous!

 

 

A closer look at the cobblestones... we had to walk a long way on these! And, it wasn't comfortable!

 

 

After the gardens, we stayed in the city of Versailles to eat. Alex didn't like the outside cafe that the others chose, so we headed to McDonald's! W had a Croque McDo! We had several croque sand-wiches while in France - basically a grilled ham & cheese but the cheese is usually on the outside.

 

 

We also had nuggets with some great sauce!

 

 

And, while we waited for the others to finish, Alex used our French phrase book to translate the name of a nearby restaurant. It was a lovely day!

Visiting the Eiffel Tower...a Scary Tale

Of course, we visited the Eiffel Tower while visiting Paris!

 

A great view of the tower.

 

 

 

We heard the lines were long, but were shocked to see lines lasting about 2.5 hours! We watched these people 'dancing' in a circle under the center of the tower. It was the summer solstice and we believe it was some kind of religious activity.

 

 

As we waited in line, I took a few photos of the gorgeous ironworks.

 

 

 

Alex and I decided to leave everyone else to their long wait... and CLIMB to the top! (An image of Gustave Eiffel on the stairs.) There are two levels you can visit. We would climb to the top one, and then climb back down to the first one where everyone else would meet us.

 

 

This is a view of the Seine River during the climb up.

 

 

We made it to the VERY TOP!!! 668 STEPS!

 

 

A view of the Seine River from the top.

 

 

A recreation of Gustave Eiffel's office on the top deck.

 

 

As we looked around, it started to get dark. It was approaching midnight!

 

 

The Versailles Gardens has a firework show a couple of times a week. We could see the fireworks off in the distance.

 

 

By now, I believe we were back on the lower deck. We'd been separated from our family for several hours... and we couldn't find them ANYWHERE! I was getting really nervous. The tower closed at 1 am, if I remember correctly, and it was approaching that time. There were not many people on the tower walking around, and I debated on what to do.

 

The sparkling light show that takes place at 12  & 1 am (I believe)

I finally decided we should take the elevator down and that, hopefully, we'd find our family. But, they weren't at the bottom, either! It was very late and dark out. We ended up talking to a guard and asking if we could stay near him until we found our family. He didn't speak English very well, but at least I felt a little more secure. I was starting to make plans for how we'd find a taxi... it was not a pleasant thought. But, thankfully...

 

 

My family finally showed up!!! They had went to the VERY top (which they had said they wouldn't do) and had got stuck in a very long line for the elevator. We had caught a ride from the lower level. We were so very thankful to be reunited!!! And, we all caught a ride and were happy to get back to the hotel. We' been at the tower for about 5 hours.