The Magic of the Cities.

Zen promotes the rediscovery of the obvious, which is so often lost in its familiarity and simplicity. It sees the miraculous in the common and magic in our everyday surroundings. When we are not rushed, and our minds are unclouded by conceptualizations, a veil will sometimes drop, introducing the viewer to a world unseen since childhood. ~ John Greer

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Notre Dame de Paris

Bikers Tour
The Notre Dame Biker
Moon Man
Notre Dame Cathedral 
Notre Dame Birds
Back View 
Quai de l'Archevêché. Pont Saint-Louis
Tomorrow: Inside wonders.

Notre Dame de Paris (French for Our Lady of Paris), also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra (official chair), of the Archbishop of Paris, currentlyAndré Vingt-Trois. Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in France and in Europe. It was restored and saved from destruction by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, one of France's most famous architects. The name Notre Dame means "Our Lady" in French, and is frequently used in the names of Catholic church buildings in Francophone countries.Notre Dame de Paris was one of the first Gothic cathedrals, and its construction spanned the Gothic period. Its sculptures and stained glass show the heavy influence of naturalism, unlike that of earlier Romanesque architecture.
Notre Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress (arched exterior supports). The building was not originally designed to include the flying buttresses around thechoir and nave. After the construction began and the thinner walls (popularized in the Gothic style) grew ever higher, stress fractures began to occur as the walls pushed outward. In response, the cathedral's architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued the pattern.
The cathedral suffered desecration during the radical phase of the French Revolution in the 1790s, when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed. During the 19th century, an extensive restoration project was completed, returning the cathedral to its previous state.

Construction

Monday, June 28, 2010

Rues de Montmartre

Basilique du Sacré-Coeur (detail)

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Paris, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica (FrenchBasilique du Sacré-Cœur, pronounced [sakʁe kœʁ]), is a Roman Catholic church andminor basilica, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in ParisFrance. A popular landmark, the basilica is located at the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city.
The Map (Rue Cortot)
View from Montmartre
Chez Marie at Rue Gabrielle 
Wedding car thru Quai François Mitterrand at Place de l'institut 
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New York, Washington, Paris, Vienna, Eisenstadt, Venice, Firenze and Rome series try to continue in Sketches of Cities. 
 (At Least Once A Week)
Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Moments In Montmartre












Moments of Life In Montmartre

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New York, Washington, Paris, Vienna, Eisenstadt, Venice, Firenze and Rome series try to continue in Sketches of Cities. 
 (At Least Once A Week)
Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Paris Scenes

Luxor Obelisk and Eiffel Tower
Louvre Pyramid
Champs Elysées at Avenue W. Churchill (Invalides in the background)
La statue du général de Gaulle sur l’avenue des Champs-Élysées à Paris, une œuvre de Jean Cardot. (Charles de Gaulle statue by Jean Cardot. Place Clemenceau)
Monument and words of Charles de Gaulle, and in the background, Grand Palais.
(There is a pact twenty times secular between the grandeur of France and the freedom of the world)
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New York, Washington, Paris, Vienna, Eisenstadt, Venice, Firenze and Rome series try to continue in Sketches of Cities. (At Least Once A Week)
Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Place Charles de Gaulle

Arc de Triomphe
Place Charles de Gaulle
The Tomb of The Unknown Soldier 


The Arc de Triomphe is one of the most famous monuments in Paris. It is located on the right bank of the Seine River. It forms the backdrop for an impressive urban ensemble in Paris. The monument surmounts the hill of Chaillot at the center of a pentagon-shaped configuration of radiating avenues. It was commissioned in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz by Emperor Napoleon at the peak of his fortunes. Laying the foundations alone took two years, and in 1810 when Napoleon entered Paris from the west with his bride Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, he had a wooden mock-up of the completed arch constructed. The architect Jean Chalgrin died in 1811, and the work was taken over by Jean-Nicolas Huyot. During the Bourbon Restoration, construction was halted and it would not be completed until the reign of King Louis-Philippe, in 1833–36 when the architects on site were Goust, then Huyot, under the direction of Héricart de Thury. Napoleon's body passed under it on 15 December 1840 on its way to its second and final resting place at the Invalides.[6] The body of Victor Hugo was exposed under the Arch during the night of the 22 May 1885, prior to burial in the Panthéon

Beneath the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the First World War. Interred here on Armistice Day 1920, it has the first eternal flame lit in Western and Eastern Europe since the Vestal Virgins' fire was extinguished in the year 394. It burns in memory of the dead who were never identified (now in both World Wars). The French model inspired the United Kingdom's tomb of The Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey. A ceremony is held there every 11 November on the anniversary of the armistice signed between France and Germany in 1918. It was originally decided on 12 November 1919 to bury the unknown soldier's remains in the Panthéon, but a public letter-writing campaign led to the decision to bury him beneath the Arc de Triomphe. The coffin was put in the chapel on the first floor of the Arc on 10 November 1920, and put in its final resting place on 28 January 1921. The slab on top carries the inscription ICI REPOSE UN SOLDAT FRANÇAIS MORT POUR LA PATRIE 1914–1918 ("Here lies a French soldier who died for the fatherland 1914–1918"). [Wiki]


Jose Saramago - 16 Nov 1922-18 June 2010.
Carlos Monsivais - 4 May 1938-19 June 2010.
(Splendid minds of XX-XXI centuries and both leftists.)

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New York, Washington, Paris, Vienna, Eisenstadt, Venice, Firenze and Rome series try to continue in Sketches of Cities. (At Least Once A Week)
Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all.