Travelogue - France
"THE FRENCH THEMSELVES are the best advocates for visiting France, convinced that their way of life is the best, and that their country is the most civilized on earth. The food and wine are justly celebrated. French literature, art, cinema, and architecture can be both profound and provocative. Offering both cerebral and sensual experiences, France is a country where anyone can feel at home." France, known as the "Hexagon" because of its six-sided shape, is bordered by six countries: Spain south cross the Pyrenees; Italy and Switzerland beyond the Alps; Luxembourg and Belgium to the north; and Germany on the other side of the Rhine. The United Kingdom lies across the English Channel (La Manche).

Paris
The French capital is rich in museums, art galleries and monuments. The Louvre, Effiel Tower and Arc de Triomphe are among the most popular sights. At the center of Paris stood the majestic Arc de Triomphe, it was during the urban modernization of Paris that avenues were constructed forming a star centered around the Arc de Triomphe and its best to travel central Paris on foot. Most of the popular sites are within walking distance and nothing is more interesting than to catch a closer glimpse while you stroll through the streets.

St Eustache (right) took 105 years to complete. Much of the interior was modeled on Notre Dame, with naves and sides and radical chapels. Situated in the 3rd Arrondissement St Eustache is easily accessible by the Metro or on foot. Various popular sites are within walking distant from St Eustache eg Centre Pompidon, Notre Dame and The Lourve.

St Merri (right) In the back street of Paris, just a few minutes walk south-west of Centre Pompidon quietly stood the St Merri. On the facade of the church emerge the 12 Gospel where this picture was taken with six statues on each side of the entrance.

The Seine is the essential point of reference to the city: distances are measured from it, street numbers determined by it, and it divides the capital into two distinct areas, the Right Bank on the north side of the river and the Left Bank of the south side. Practically every building of note in Paris is either along the riverbank or within a stone's throw away. The quays are lined by fined bourgeois apartments, magnificent town houses, world-renowned museums and striking monuments. All above, the river is very much alive. For centuries, fleets of small boats used it, but motorised land traffic stifled this once-bustling scene. Today, the river is busy with commercial barges and massive bateaux-mouches-pleasure boats carrying sightseers up and down the river.

The Musee du Lourve, containing one of the most important art collections in the world, has a history extending back to medieval times. First constructed as a fortress in 1190 by King Philippe-Auguste to protect Paris against Viking raids, it lost its keep and dungeon in the reign of Francois I, who replaced it with a Renaissance-style building. Thereafter, four centuries of French kings and emperors improved and enlargeed it. The I.M Pei's pyramid entrance was added in 1989. Made of metal and glass, the pyramid enables the visitor to see the buildings around the palace, while allowing liht down into the underground visitor's reception area.

Take a stroll further south-west along Rue Saint Jacques is the ethereal and magical St Chapelle (left). St Chapelle is hailed as one of greatest architectural masterpiece of the Western world. The "Gateway to Heaven" has 15 stained-glass windows, separate by pencil-like columns. Each window depicts a book in the bible. Starting from the left near the entrance and proceeding clockwise tracing from Genesis to the Story of the Relic. The 16th Rose Window (right) in the upper chapel depicts The Apocalypse. The lower chapel above separates the commoner from the royal in the upper chapel. Evening concerts are still being held in the chapel taking advantage of its superb acoustics.

One of Europe's most magnificent and historic squares, covering over 20 arces, the Place de la Concorde was a swamp until mid-18th century. The 3,200 year-old Luxor  obelisk was presented to King Louis-Philippe as a gift from the vice-roy of Egypt (who also donated Cleopatra's Needle in London).

No other building epitomizes the history of Paris more than Notre Dame (left). Notre Dame was built on the site of a Roman temple. The first stone was laid in 1163, marking the start of two centuries of toil by armies of Gothic architects and medieval craftsmen. Additions of spire and gargoyles were carried out in the 19th century.

Seen here are the spire soaring to a height of 90m and the flying buttresses on the south facade of Notre Dame. The South Rose Window (left) has a depiction of Christ at the centre.

Two towers are erected on the front facade and south tower housed the famous Emmanuel's bell (left).

Patheon (left) The Neo-Classical building was conceived after Louis XV recovered from a desperate illness in 1744 and completed in 1790. It turned into a patheon - a monument housing the tombs of France's great heroes during the Revolution. Napoleon returned it to the Church in 1806, but is was secularized and then desecularized once more before finally being made a civic building in 1885.

Musee d'Orsay (right)
The building was re-opened in 1986, 47 years after it had closed as a mainland rail-road station as Musee d'Orsay. The museum presents a diversity of visual arts from 1848 to 1914.

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Les Invalides comprises of seven sections, Musee de l'Armee, Hotel des Invalides, Cour d'Honneur, Musee de l'Ordre de la Liberation, Musee des Plans-Reliefs, Dome Church and St-Louis-des-Invalides.

After the Cour d'Honneur (below) is the Dome Church. The Dome Church was built as St Louis XIV's private chapel. Above the entrance towards the Dome Church stood Napoleon keeping a constant vigil. On the left is the Musee de l'Armee





where one of the most comprehensive museums of military history in the world with exhibits ranging from Stone Age to World War II. Among the vast collection is an exhibit recalling the victories and defeats of France dedicated mainly to the Napoleonic era.



St-Louis-des-Invalides also known as the "soldiers' church", this is the chapel of the Hotel des Invalides. It was build from 1679 to 1708. The interior of the chapel is designed in the shape of a Greek cross. At the end of the chapel is the Altar of St Louis (left). Hanged on the arch ceiling are the banners seized in battle. On the glass window at the end of the church is a cross of Jesus Christ common with Dome Church. The Dome was exclusively reserved for the Sun King-Louis XIV and as the location of royal tombs. After the death of Louis XIV, plans to bury the royal family in the church were abandoned. Two bronze statues awaits you as you walked down the arch stair way. The main attraction of the Dome Church has to be the tomb of Napoleon;20 years after his death on the island of St Helen, his body was returned to France on the authority of Louis-Philippe. His remains were installed in the crypt, encased in six coffins within an enormous red porphyry sarcophagus (left), resting on a pedestal of green granite. Above the resting place of Napoleon is a fresco of the 12 disciples vividly painted by the beam through the window.

Effiel Tower Built for the Universal Exhibition of 1889, and to commemorate the centennial of the Revolution, the 320m Effiel Tower was meant to be a temporary addition to Paris's skyline. Designed by Gustave Effiel. It stood as the world's tallest building until 1931, when New York's Empire State Building was completed.

Napoleon promised his men after his greatest victory, the Battle of Auterlitz in 1805, that they would "go home beneath triumphal arches." The completion of the monumental Arc de Triomphe was delay after the demise of Napoleonic power until 1836. The body of an Unknown Soldier was place beneath the arch on Nov 11, 1920 to commemorate the dead of World War I, and the eternal flame at the tomb is lit every evening.

Sacre Coeur This Neo-Romanesque church, started in the 1870's and completed in 1914, is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Christ, was built as a result of a private religious vow made at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war. 

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