Exposing The World

France: Paris

All Roads Lead to Paris

No country is so centered on one city as France. It’s as if the culture of the entire US were determined by New York City or Chicago.

Back

On Parisian Streets

Paris is one of the most walkable of large cities, and is served by a large and well-run transit network.

Street performers, for music and other arts, are everywhere.
The Convention Center
A street performer blows giant bubbles.
Place Pigalle, an old nightclub district, now grown seedy.
The Seine draws a long curve through the city

The De Caux toilet

Public urination has always been a problem in Paris. An early solution was placing open-air pissoirs on the streets, a cheap-to-build way of providing relief for men.

Today, this automated street toilet, which cleans itself after every user, caters to men and women equally.

Bâteaux-Mouches

These “bug boats” cruise the Seine to give visitors a leisurely view of a city that centers on this river.a

The Jardin de Luxembourg

Jardin des Tuileries

After the Revolution, an old tile factory was razed to be replaced by thos ‘people’s garden’ to be freely enjoyed by all Parisians. The design, buy Andre LeNôtre (monument below) though formal, encompasses works of art from heroic statues to experimental pieces.

LeNôtre was architect of the Gardens, and several other parks

Le Métro

Paris is still adding to one of the world’s oldest subway systems. This is one of the artistic station entrances designed by 20th Century artist André Guimard.

A double-decker regional train, with faster medium-distance service than the subway.
Not all Metro lines are underground. Bottom: an elevated line leaves the Gare d’Austerlitz near the Salpetriëre Hospital.

France’s hall of heroes

Between 1758 and 1790, Jean-Germain Soufflot designed a church to be consecrated to St. Geneviëve. But when the anticlerical Revolution intervened, the structure was repurposed as the Panthéon, a hall of national heroes.

The crypt and the pendulum

This spot is where Foucault hung his famed pendulum, which proved the rotation of the Earth.

Many of France’s national heroes are entombed in the crypt under the ground floor. This is the tombs of Voltaire .
Marie Curie, the only woman in the crypt who is there on her own merit

La Défense, highrise center

On the site of a former military base, this Paris neighborhood outside the peripheral ring highway is dedicated to modern architecture.

L’Arche de La Défense. This modern arch lines up with the Arc de Triomphe, far in the distance.
A self-portrait

Notre Dame

France regards this church as its national cathedral. These images precede the fire and restoration.

Rose windows

The rose windows of Notre-Dame are thought to be the highest development of this art.

Montmartre

This old neighborhood, on a hill on the Right Bank, became an artistic hub during the Belle Epoque of the late 19th Century. Today, it has became a dining and nightclub district.

Sacré-Cœur

The main church of Montmartre, now a basilica.

Back