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Madame Eiffel Tower Celebrates 130 Years
In May 2019, the Eiffel Tower turned 130; however, why not celebrate the birthday all year long. To celebrate this event, an interactive Fall Event is underway at the Eiffel Tower until the end of November on the esplanade, under a dome covering about 300 m2, is free and open to everyone. Visitors walk over screens on the ground that reproduce the image of the girders .... which feels likes walking over nothing, experience the monument’s wind resistance and become painters of the Eiffel Tower
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Eiffel Tower-One Big Green Space and Garden
Eiffel Tower, Quai Branley, Iena Bridge, Trocadero, Place Varsovie, Ecole militaries will be joined by one big green space and pedestrian zone between 2021-2024. Around 2024 the area of the Eiffel Tower, including Trocadéro and l’Ecole militaire will add clean air to your lungs according to the Paris Mayor’s office. The area around the Eiffel Tower is going green. Vehicles of any kind will no longer circulate around either the Tower or across the Iena bridge. From the Place Varsovie on the right bank across from Chatillot to the left bank’s Quai Branly, all will be classified for pedestrians only. Work begins 2021 and continues until 2024.
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Paris Scenes: Balcony, Street & Snow
These are scenes from a Montmartre balcony over Paris while at a party, walking to the metro near Ledru-Rollin/Bastille to attend a conference, snow scenes along streets in the 11th arrondissement heading to the suburb of Bagnolet for a presentation rehearsal between January 26 and February 7.
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How to Visit the Tour Saint-Jacques – Châtelet
If you want to begin your pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, begin at the Tour Saint-Jacques in Paris/Châtelet. Or skip the pilgrimage and reserve on line for the panoramic view from the top of the tower. Reservations open on line every Monday morning for one of seventeen available spots.
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Experience Versailles in 3D from Home
While preparing a visit to Versailles, I ended up helping build Versailles. The building task involves matching three levels of architecture to please Mr. Mansard and the King. Playing the game, I heard myself giggling out loud (as did the rest of the household). Once completed, I earned a medal and the approval of the Louis XIV. “Shambles at Versailles” is one of the new interactive games to help Jules Hardouin-Mansard (architecture), Jean-Baptiste Colbert (menagerie) and André le Nôtre (gardens) finish building Versailles. And by the way, did Versailles always look this way, gigantic and full of gardens? Surely, there must have been something on the grounds before: A forest? a house? a…
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Revival of the Grand Palais
The falling rivet that saved the Grand Palais Watch out! A falling rivet in 1993 was the wake up call that things were not exactly right within and beneath the Grand Palais. What happened during the past 12 years while the Grand Palais was closed to the public and why for the next year it will be shrouded and framed by scaffolding is a continuing story. But there is hope because it is no longer sliding into the banks of the Seine river. Panel translations inside the Grand Palais When you enter this edifice during the coming two years for varied events you will most likely see several panels (in French)…
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Pantheon Has the Best Panoramic View of Paris
It is close to take off. The anticipation mounts. For those at the end of the line, the hope is to be within the fifty chosen ones. The climb to the top of the Pantheon (les colonnades) includes about 276 steps. It is not a straight climb up. Your visit to the top in no way resembles your descent. It is an easy walk that combines flat and sloping surfaces. This is not one steep climb up the same stairs, but broken up into sections. That’s why it is not an exhaustive walk. The waiting area is close to the entrance in a cordoned-off area in a niche in the…
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Saint-Sulpice, A Tower With A View
For DaVinci Code trackers, your souvenir photo showing the church Saint-Sulpice has a major distraction. If you visited the church after the the book’s publication in 2003, the north tower is shrouded in scaffolding and hidden from view. It is time to return to Paris for a new Kodak moment photo shoot. Completely dismantled stone by stone and put back together again between February 2006 and January 2011, the north tower is completely restored and stable. The tower, which rises 233 feet above the ground, carries the weight of 22 tons for the Evangelist statues, 41 tons for the belfry frame and 17 tons for the five bells. A protective…
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Paris City Hall Speaks English
The Paris Mayor’s office website has made a major and very exciting renovation. The pages are available in English and Spanish. The English homepage provides links to get you started on a Paris discovery directly from the Mayor’s office. “Visit” the city with their “click-and-pick Paris city tour!” The “Guide for foreign residents” makes your arrival in Paris a success. City hall offers useful places and addresses for students, advice on finding accommodation and the administrative documents required, etc. Solidarity initiatives, cultural exchanges, European policies and cooperation agreements make “Paris a city with an international profile“. Because Paris was right at the heart of events that marked French history and…
