Architecture

When you visit Paris, you expect to experience great food, wine, art, and architecture.  (Well, maybe not if you're a "Stupid American Guy" like Jesse Ruben.)  The food and wine are easy--even my own cooking tastes better here.  As for the art, see my previous post.

Great architecture is everywhere in the City of Light.  Even average apartment buildings and stores are interesting.  The museums are as spectacular outside as they are inside, the government buildings and schools are magnificent, and the churches are breathtaking.  Great views of many of the city's monuments are available, partially because the engineers who renovate Paris in the 19th century created roadways and green spaces that were designed to show them off.

In preparing for my trip, I read somewhere that the top 7 sights in Paris are Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysées, and the Palace of Versailles.  In the past three days, my mom and I have at least seen the outside of all of these monuments except the Champs Elysées, which isn't a building, and have probably been surrounded by hundreds of thousands of visitors along the way.

We spent Sunday in Versailles.  The palace was built in the late-17th century and served as the political center of the country until the Women's March to Versailles at the beginning of the French Revolution.  Since then it has basically been a tourist attraction.  The palace, a complete and utter display of excess, was the brain child of Louis XIV, the Sun King.  Supposedly a charming and nifty guy, Louis XIV ruled France from Versailles for 72 years!  He outlived most of his heirs and his five-year-old great-grandson ended up on the throne after his death.  Louis XV's grandson and successor, Louis XIV, was eventually decapitated with his wife, Marie Antoinette, marking the end of the monarchy and the establishment of the First Republic, when Napoleon decided to move the center of government back to Paris.  We toured the palace, wandered through the gardens, saw the fountains, and checked out the queen's quarters.  My pictures from our trip will focus on the creatures of Versailles.


Versailles is only about a half-hour train ride from Paris, and as soon as we stepped of the train, the madness began.  King Tut greeted us as we approached the palace.  I'm not sure about the connection between the pharaohs and Versailles, but it made for some interesting performance art.  He stood perfectly still until someone dropped change in his bucket, when he would take a long, slow bow.  He was still there six hours later when we left to head back home.

The friendliest creature at Versailles was this kitty, who hung out near the restaurants.

This swan was also pretty friendly.  He definitely worked the crowd and got his fill of handouts.

The grounds are so vast, there's even a farm there.  These sheep were pretty cool.  Pretty cool

On Monday, we visited the Eiffel Tower.  Built in 1889, it was the tallest building in the world until the Chrysler Building was constructed in 1930.  After the French added the antenna on top in 1957, it is now taller than the Chrysler Building again.  At 320 meters, it is the equivalent of an 81-story skyscraper.  We took the elevator all the way to the top for an amazing view.  The picture below is from the second platform looking up. It's hard to believe how tall it is until you see it up close.