Last weeks newsletter I shared with you some of my favorite
pictures and spots in London. From London I
took the EuroStar train to Paris. The train travels in the Channel Tunnel also
known as the "Chunnel."
The Chunnel is a very cool construction feat completed in 1994, the tunnel
is 31.4 miles long and travels undersea.
Once in Paris
I tried to eat and shop where the French do: in small neighborhood cafes,
bistrots, boutiques. Every arrondissement (district) has plenty
of small shops each unique and fun. We picked a small neighborhood hotel in the
center of Paris
called the Renaissance Hotel.
Walking is, indeed, the best way to see Paris. A favorite of mine was to stroll
along the Seine river and almost any side
street off of it has a story to tell.
Like London the architecture was amazing and in my
usual fascination with building details and front doors, I took too many
pictures to share here.
I love the door arches and keystones. The detail and craftsmanship in these old doors is amazing.
Oh yea and don't forget the awesome pastries and bread!!
A FAV spot for me could be found in any Paris neighborhood; it was the cafes. Whether I was having a coffee or a glass of
wine the people watching and vibe was amazing!
I sat in a cafe while at the Champs-Elysées while my wife
and daughters shopped.
The ornate decorations on buildings and above doors were another favorite of mine.
Palace
of Versailles
The Château de Versailles, is one of the most beautiful achievements of
18th-century French art. The site began as Louis XIII's hunting lodge before
his son Louis XIV transformed and expanded it, moving the court and government
of France to Versailles in 1682. Each
of the three French kings who lived there until the French Revolution added
improvements to make it more beautiful.
The Hall of Mirrors, was interesting to me because of its connection to the
glass blowers in the Venetian
Republic.
In the 1670s Louis XIV built the Grand Apartments of the King and Queen,
whose most emblematic achievement is the Hall of Mirrors designed by Mansart,
where the king put on his most ostentatious display of royal power in order to
impress visitors. The Chapel and Opera were built in the next century under
Louis XV.
The mirrors were among the most expensive items to possess
and at the time, the Venetian
Republic held the
monopoly on the manufacture of mirrors. In order to maintain the integrity of
his philosophy of keeping all items used in the decoration of Versailles be
made in France, Jean-Baptiste Colbert enticed several workers
from Venice to make mirrors at the Manufacture royale de glaces de miroirs. According to legend, in order to keep its
monopoly, the government of the Venetian Republic sent agents to France to
poison the workers whom Colbert had brought to France. Gotta love the cloak and dagger stuff!!!!
The château lost its standing as the official seat of power in 1789 but
acquired a new role in the 19th century as the Museum of the History of France,
which was founded at the behest of Louis-Philippe, who ascended to the throne
in 1830.
Besides the amazing architectural details of the Palace I really enjoyed the
tour of the grounds and many fountains.
The Versailles Fountains:
The
fact that Versailles
had working fountains back then intrigued me. How did they get the fountains to work, for
how long and how often?
After asking around and doing some research I found out that large rain
water tanks on the roof. These elevated gravity bowls were continuously
filled from the River Sienne and the running water flowed into and out of the
fountains thus producing the 'fountain' effect.
To give Louis XIV the pleasure of fountains, around 9,500 of
water were required for 2½ hours of entertainment. Between 1670 and 1685, the
time it took to lay down the great network in Versailles, the hydraulic problems mobilized many
of France's scientists and engineers. To conserve water the servants would only turn on the fountain that the king was walking or riding past.
The system functioned by gravitation, so not only was a lot
of water needed but it had to come from higher ground. An elaborate system of
pumps, aqueducts and reservoirs was then constructed.
Using brand new technology, cast iron pipes made up of standardized
sizes without soldering, engineers achieved
the fountain effect and reduce the consumption of water at the same time.
The laying out of the gardens required enormous work. Vast amounts of earth
had to be shifted to lay out the flower beds, the Orangerie, the fountains and
the Canal, where previously only woods, grasslands and marshes were. The earth
was transported in wheelbarrows, the trees were conveyed by cart from all the
provinces of France
and thousands of men, sometimes whole regiments, took part in this vast
enterprise.
The Louvre
The Musée du Louvre is one of the world's largest museums and a
historic monument. A central landmark of Paris,
it is located on the bank of the River Seine.
I was one of the 8 million visitors this year, It would literally take days
to see this museum, which is also the worlds largest museum. Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to
the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square meters.
I enjoyed studying the column and building details and hit
the museum highlights like; Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa and a few others!
The museum is housed in the Louvre
Palace which began as a
fortress built in the late 12th century under
Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are
visible in the basement of the museum. The building was extended many times to
form the present Louvre
Palace.
In 1682, Louis
XIV chose the Palace
of Versailles for his
household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal
collection, including, from 1692, a collection of ancient Greek and Roman
sculpture.
During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre
should be used as a museum, to display the nation's masterpieces.
Notre Dame
Notre-Dame Cathedral
is also know as Our Lady of Paris. The
cathedral is widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic
architecture and among the largest and most well-known church buildings in the world.
Bishop Maurice de Sully started the construction in 1163.
The Cathedral was to be built in the new gothic style and had to reflect Paris's status as the
capital of the Kingdom France. It was the first cathedral built on a monumental
scale and became the prototype for future cathedrals in France, like the cathedrals of Amiens,
Chartres or Rheims, just to name the most famous. It took 150 to 180 years to build and was
finished in 1345. This partly because
the design was enlarged during construction.
That's quite a scope of work huh?
The result is an overwhelming
building, 420 ft long with two 226 tall towers. The spire, which reaches 295 ft.
During the Revolution, many of the cathedral's sculptures,
gargoyles and interior was removed or demolished. It wasn't until the 19th century before the
Cathedral was fully restored thanks in part to the writer Victor Hugo, who with
his book 'Notre-Dame de Paris', made the Parisians realize the cathedral was
worth restoring. The cathedral was restored again between 1991 and 2001, this
time the historic architecture was carefully preserved.
This week we installed a WarmlyYours Radiant snow melting system under a walkway and a masonry step.
I captured this installation in a very short 4 part video series. Check it out here:
