March 2003
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Paris may be known as a romantic city, but don't overlook the gastronomic delights. Much of our time was devoted to sampling food and wine the city had to offer. "Give us the luxuries of life, and we will dispense with its necessaries. Good Americans when they die go to Paris" -- Oliver Wendell Holmes |
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| A gothic masterpiece. Notre Dame, conceived by Maurice de Sully as a replacement for the Romanesque church that had occupied the site (Cathedral of St. Etienne), was built between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries (1163-1345). | ||||
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| St Chappelle was built by Louis IX in the 1240's to house relics
from the Holy Land believed to be the Crown of Thorns and part of the True
Cross. This small gothic chapel is one of the inspiring visual experiences
of Paris. Much of
this is due to its stained glass windows which essentially surround the
entire upper floor.
The chapel itself is now surrounded by the Palais of Justice on the Ile de la Cité near Notre Dame. It has two "tiers", the first one at ground level being rather dark and close, the second one having radiant tall windows, as well as a small balcony. |
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| Part of the much larger Conciergerie complex, the Palais de Justice was built between 1857-68. It faces a small tree filled square - Place Dauphin which was intended to be a market square with two identical terraces of houses. The remainder of the building is much earlier and contains several courtyards and the celebrated Gothic church of Sainte Chapelle. Marie Antoinette was jailed there until meeting the guillotine. | ||||
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| One of the better ways to experience Paris is by walking along the Seine. We spent a full day exploring by foot and bus, with many stops to partake of food and wine. | ||||
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| The Musée du Louvre, the former home of the kings of France, is for two centuries one now of the largest museums in the world. its collections are distributed into 7 departments: Oriental antiques, Egyptian antiques, Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiques; Paintings, Sculptures and Objets d'Art from the Middle Ages to 1850. Still in its development stage, the Grand Louvre project shall only be totally finished in 1997. The first stage of the project was finished in 1989 (opening of the new access via the glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei and discovery of the vestiges of the medieval Louvre). In 1993, the Richelieu wing was opened. It exhibits French sculptures, objets d'art, paintings from the Northern schools and French paintings (up to the seventeenth century, oriental antiques and the art of Islam. The Carrousel du Louvre, was inaugurated in parallel. This is a large underground complex with stores, car parks and areas for exhibitions and prestigious events. In October 1994, new rooms presenting foreign sculptures were inaugurated. During the last phase of the project many rooms will be redeveloped in the Sully and Denon wings (with namely Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiques and Italian paintings), the Jardin des Tuileries will also be renovated. | ||||
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| Watch out for the pick-pockets. The Eiffel Tower is the most famous monument in the world (317 metres, 10,100 tonnes). Built by Gustave Eiffel in 1889 for the Universal Exhibition of which it was the star. | ||||
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