Paris

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Here are some photos from a week I spent sightseeing in Paris.

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Photos

P1
Notre Dame by day.

P2
Notre Dame by night. Hard to believe that it is (at least part of it) over 8 centuries old.

P3
Notre Dame by night. Hard to believe A balsa model of Notre Dame. The artist definitely got an A+ from the Woodshop 101 teacher on this one.

P4
View from Hotel St Jacques balcony on Rue des Ecoles. Left - The Patheon, originally built in 1744 to commemorate, and I shit you not, Louis XV's recovery from a serious bout of gout. Now home to Voltaire and Victor Hugo, among others.

P5
View from Hotel St Jacques balcony on Rue des Ecoles. Right - Notre Dame. Not bad huh?

P6
Ornate entryway into Notre Dame.

P7
A pair of lovely facades.

P8
Inside the courtyard of The Louvre. This building was built as a fortress in 1190, went through many transformations and was finally opened by the wee General Napoleon himself as a museum in the early 1800s.

P9
Below here lies the body of...!

P10
Winged Victory of Samothrace. 3rd-2nd century BC. Unearthed on a remote Greek island.

P11
Gummy, er, Venus de Milo. 2nd century BC. Discovered on the Greek island of Milos in 1820.

P12
I forget who this fellow is but I'm sure he's at least 4000 years old.

P13
Capital of Apadana. One a series of at least a hundred identical pillars from an ancient Iranian palace.

P14
Nice statues but notice the distinct lack of pants. What gives??

P15
You wonder what all these people are thinking? "Look impressed... look impressed... don't stare at the wang..."

P16
"We've seen the Mona Lisa, let's go home now."

P17
The main courtyard of The Louvre at dusk, and the start of the 'Grand Axis', which runs a straight shot through the heart of the city in-line with the path of the sun, from here...

P18
...to The Arc du Carousel...

P19
...to Place de la Concorde, with its ancient obelisk which was unearthed and given to the French by the Egyptians...

P20
...across Les Champes Elysees...

P21
..ending at The Arc du Triomphe, which is the city's main square for events. The arch was built by Napoleon 1806-1836, and commemorates him kicking ass across the world. Not pictured is the rocking brass band we heard belting out La Marsaillaise shortly after.