Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Photo Gallery

22 Fevrier

So, here's the overdue pictures that I have taken. I haven't loaded Brussels pictures yet, and if you want to see me hanging out with friends, visit my facebook pictures. Over the past few weeks, I've been seeing quite a lot of Paris! 

I don't know why, but these pictures loaded up out of order, so I'll try to make it seem sensable!

The Tour Eiffel on a foggy day, somewhat spooky right?

Trocadero, which houses some museums

The famous view of the Tour Eiffel, standing in front of the Trocadero

L'arc de Triomphe, built by Napeleon in honor of France's success

This monument is mostly dedicated to past military feats and soldiers

A memorial for the unknown soldier

Champs Elysees (from on top of l'arc de Triomphe)

See that (ugly) skyscraper? That's tour Montparnasse, near my homestay. I have yet to meet a Parisien that likes the skyscraper

Montmatre, with Sacre-Coeur showing in the skyline


The spiral stairs we climbed to reach the top


Now, pictures from my Art History class trip to l'hôtel de Cluny, St. Severin, and St. Genèvive.
The beautiful voutes in the chapel at l'hôtel de Cluny 
Sainte Severin, a fine example of 16th century gothic architecture

On the way to St. Genèvive

A closer look at those stairs 
A closer look at the stain-glass windows of St. Genèvive


The beautiful stairs in St. Genèvive, a church built during the Renaissance. 

Outside St. Genèvive

The front façade de l'hôtel de Cluny

What beautiful arces! 
La porte for the aristocrats and other worthy beings at the  l'hôtel de Cluny (Everyone else used the kitchen door entrance)

Well

l'hôtel de Cluny

Some wanderings...
Petit Palais, now home to art

Pictures of various sites in Le Marais, a quartier within Paris. I went with my History of Paris class
L'église de St. Paul, saved by Victor Hugo

The gorgeous organ within

l'hôtel de Sully


Another view of l'hôtel de Sully. For those wondering, hotels didn't always mean lodgings for travellers or tourists. In previous centuries, l'hôtel was either a civil building (like l'hôtel de ville) or most likely the home of an aristocrat (like the above picture) 

Another view of the l'hôtel 
On another Art History trip, we went to the Basilique de St. Denis, where the tombs of the kings and queens of France are kept. It's a big church, so big that the stone walls kept the place cool. 

Inside St. Denis

Les vitrails de St. Denis

The tomb of Louis VII and Anne of Bretagne 
Recognize these figures? Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette

More vitrails of St. Denis

During the gothic era, the sculptures of the deceased royalty would have their hands in prayer position

The gisants sculptures of the royalty when they were living, which go on top of the tomb

Another view of the tombs of Louis and Anne

A fleuranti, one of the petite statues that surround the sarcophagus

A closer look of one of the vertus

I love this picture, when the sun shone in on the old tombs of the royalty

Another view of the tomb of Louis and Anne 
Look at how life-like the feet are!

A Vertu, which sit at each corner of the tomb

Bas-relief on the tomb

It's customary to make the sculpture on top of the sarcophagus look like the person did when he/she passed away 
Princesses


The tomb of Louis and Anne in full view (in case you couldn't tell, this was my favorite tomb out of all)

The names of more recent royalty, who are collected in a crypt

This is the crypt where the bones of the more recent royalty (except for Marie-Antoniette and her ill-fated family) are kept 


The tomb of Marie Antoinette


Tomb of François I 

Very large with 2 sacrophages


An urn 
Look at all the fleurantis!

Outside view of St. Denis

The entrance to St. Denis


The Louvre, once the home of royalty (before they moved to Versailles and eventually were gullotined) 
I don't know who this is, but this guy is posing for my picture

l'Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel


There's a story behind this bridge--lovers come here with a lock and a key. They inscribe their intials on the lock, attach it to the fence, and toss the key into the Seine. Very romantic

Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris (ironically called "New bridge")

The controversial Pyramid, right in front of the Louvre

The Louvre, the most famous art museum in the world

One can never have too many photos of the Tour Eiffel

One entrance to the Grand Palais

The Grand Palais

A column marking the beginning of Pont Alexandre III

Pont Alexandre III, a gorgeous bridge 

Steetlamps on the bridge

Another view of the Grand Palais

The Grand Palais, where it's mostly in use, but typically they hold exhibits there as well

Well, I hope this keeps you busy for now! It did take a while to load up all the pictures

Au demain

MM

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