May is one happening month! I’ve got tonnes of updates about my recent days in Vienna, but let me just usher you Paris for one last time!
Parc de la Villette, the largest park in Paris. It’s so full of architectural follies that I found it hard to imagine that it lies on former slaughterhouse grounds.
Next, heading up to Butte Montmartre!
The famous Basilique du Sacré-Cœur is right up the hill!
A much clearer view of the basilica
The view of Paris from the summit of Butte Montmartre
I think I could spot the Eiffel Tower! :p
My favourite attraction in Paris: Opéra Garnier a.k.a the Paris Opera!
This is the very opera where the story of The Phantom of The Opera takes place, so it holds a huge sentimental value for me. Gaston Leroux (the author of The Phantom of The Opera) remarked of his visit to the Opera House that it “was almost as bewildering as it was agreeable. Giant starways and colossal halls, huge frescoes and enormous mirrors, gold and marble, satin and velvet, met the eye at every turn.” One couldn’t have put it better, I guess.
The Grand Staircase, built in marble of various colours. It is a theatre in itself, for where, in years gone by, the crinolines of fashionable society ladies would brush here.
With a torchère at the Grand Staircase
There’s this one room full of mirrors which is perfect for photowhoring!
Even the ceiling constitutes of mirrors!
The Opera is just so, soooo pretty! I think it’s the most beautiful place in the whole city!
The vast and richly decorated Grand Foyer, where the audience stroll through during intervals
I love the effect of mirrors in palaces -they accentuate the palaces’ astounding dimension
The Grand Salle -1900 red velvet seats and painted-canvas house curtain that imitates a draped curtain with gold braid and pompoms
Marc Chagall’s brightly coloured ceiling and the immense crystal chandelier
Upon leaving the majestic Palais Garnier, we were back hitting the streets of Paris.
Avenue des Champs-Elysées, the most prestigious and broadest avenue in Paris. It is the 2nd most expensive strip of real estate in the world (the first in Europe) after New York City’s 5th Avenue. It is also the traditional end of the last stage of Tour de France.
The roadside is peppered with branded boutiques from LV to Cartier (Paris isn’t one of the world’s fashion capitals for nothing) and restaurants flocked by tourists
L’Arc de Triomphe at the end of the Avenue!
The second largest triumphal arch in existence was commissioned in 1806 by Napoleon I after his victory in Austerlitz. It is a landmark during the Tour de France -riders realise that they are nearing the finish of the race when it first comes into view.
The Panthéon. The inscription above the entrance reads Aux Grands Hommes La Patrie Reconnaissante (To great men the grateful homeland)
A pendulum which shows that the Earth is rotating
The dome from which the fine string of the pendulum hangs
Above all, the Panthéon is where the greatest of French men are buried.
The tomb of Jean-Jeacques Rousseau, a famous French philosopher
The tomb of Voltaire, a prolific French writer and philosopher we’ve all heard of
The tombs of Victor Hugo -my favourite French writer!- and Alexandre Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers
The tomb of Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille
A memorial dedicated to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a French pilot who is better known as the author of The Little Prince. He disappeared in an aerial mission in 1944.
And what’s a visit to Paris worth without seeing its most iconic monument?
La Tour Eiffel! It’s kinda, um, metallic, don’t you think? I think it looks more gorgeous at night than it does in the day.
The Eiffel tower just before sunset
A glimpse of Pont Alexandre III, a bridge that spans the Seine, connecting the Champs-Elysées quarter and the Invalides and Eiffel Tower Quarter. It was named after Tsar Alexander III of Russia and is regarded by many as one of the prettiest bridges in Paris.
La Place de la Concorde
And to end a simply amazing stay in Paris, presenting:
The night view of the Eiffel tower from le Jardin du Trocadéro!
View the complete collection of Paris photos here -I’m definitely coming back there one day :)
April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom
Holiday tables under the trees
April in Paris, this is a feeling
That no one can ever reprise
I never knew the charm of spring
I never met it face to face
I never knew my heart could sing
never missed a warm embrace
Till April in Paris
Whom can I run to
What have you done to my heart
I never knew the charm of spring
I never met it face to face
I never knew my heart could sing
never missed a warm embrace
Till April in Paris
Whom can I run to
What did you mean to
What have you done to my heart…
[April in Paris - Billie Holiday]
P.S. Watch the Eiffel Tower light up on my Vodpod!
Posted by Manoj K on Friday, May 29, 2009 at 0:24 2009
Great Job!!! Thanks very much ,It really helped me to get an overview of Paris which I needed for my book.
Posted by Nesnesnes on Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 7:31 2009
You’re welcome and good luck with your book!