Paris, France Day 3 - Pompidou, The Louvre & Montmarte

Notre Dame - Check :)

Next Up - The Pompidou Center, The Louvre, Sacre Coeur above Montmarte, Moulin Rouge and a little tasty treat to end our day off right.  :) 

The Pompidou Centre

Architecture  (Wikipedia again working its magic providing history to the masses :)

The Pompidou Centre was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, the British architect couple Richard Rogers and Su Rogers, Gianfranco Franchini, the British structural engineer Edmund Happold (who would later found Buro Happold), and Irish structural engineer Peter Rice. The project was awarded to this team in an architectural design competition, whose results were announced in 1971. Reporting on Rogers' winning the Pritzker Prize in 2007, The New York Times noted that the design of the Centre "turned the architecture world upside down" and that "Mr. Rogers earned a reputation as a high-tech iconoclast with the completion of the 1977 Pompidou Centre, with its exposed skeleton of brightly colored tubes for mechanical systems. The Pritzker jury said the Pompidou "revolutionized museums, transforming what had once been elite monuments into popular places of social and cultural exchange, woven into the heart of the city."

Initially, all of the functional structural elements of the building were color-coded: green pipes are plumbing, blue ducts are for climate control, electrical wires are encased in yellow, and circulation elements and devices for safety (e.g., fire extinguishers) are red.  However, recent visits suggests that this color coding has been partially removed, and many of the elements are simply painted white.

Making our way to the Louvre..

The Louvre

Next Stop:  Montmarte

And if in case you wanted to know...

Montmartre is a hill (the butte Montmartre) which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district. The other, older, church on the hill is Saint Pierre de Montmartre, which claims to be the location at which the Jesuit order of priests was founded. Many artists had studios or worked around the community of Montmartre such as Salvador Dalí, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh.

Trolley to the top of Montmarte

Sacré-Cœur Basilica

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Paris, France. A popular landmark, the basilica is located at the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city. Sacré-Cœur is a double monument, political and cultural, both a national penance for the supposed excesses of the Second Empire and socialist Paris Commune of 1871crowning its most rebellious neighborhood, and an embodiment of conservative moral order, publicly dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was an increasingly popular vision of a loving and sympathetic Christ.

The Sacré-Cœur Basilica was designed by Paul Abadie. Construction began in 1875 and was finished in 1914. It was consecrated after the end of World War I in 1919.

Overlooking Montmarte

More spectacular views over Paris..

Can't go to Montmarte without at least taking a picture of the infamous Moulin Rouge..

Moulin Rouge is a cabaret built in 1889 by Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia. Close to Montmartre in the Paris district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, it is marked by the red windmill on its roof. The closest métro station is Blanche.

The Moulin Rouge is best known as the spiritual birthplace of the modern form of the can-can dance. Originally introduced as a seductive dance by the courtesans who operated from the site, the can-can dance revue evolved into a form of entertainment of its own and led to the introduction of cabarets across Europe. Today the Moulin Rouge is a tourist destination, offering musical dance entertainment for visitors from around the world. Much of the romance of turn-of-the-century France is still present in the club's decor.

Ending our trip to Paris in the most delectable way possible..

Some of the best gelato I've ever had..

After waiting in line for OVER 45 minutes... yes, you read right.. FORTY FIVE minutes for ice-cream!!

We FINALLY made it to the front of the line..

But COME ON!! Look at this craftmanship!!  :) 

Isn't it GLORIOUS?!?!  Strawberry, Coconut and Mango for me... O.M.Geee GOOD!! :)

Chad's flavor of choice:  Double Chocolate and Hazelnut

What a perfect ending to an all around fabulous trip...

Smell Ya Later Paris.. Until We Meet AGAIN! ;) 

Back to Life... Back to Reality... :( 

Paris, France Day 3 - The Notre Dame Cathedral

Our last day in Paris.. :(

Unfortunately it was also the last day of our entire vacation (Everybody now, wa..wa...waaaaaaa...)  and we were on board to take it as easy as we could and relish in the fact that we were STILL NOT at home or.. at work for that matter.  ;) 

Left on our list of places we needed to see before calling it a successful trip...

The Notre Dame Cathedral, The Louvre, The Pompidou and The Sacre Coeur 

And there are way too many pictures for one post...so I'll break it down for ya..

First Up:  The Notre Dame

Oh and a little history lesson courtesy of my good friend Wiki...pedia that is.  :)

Notre Dame is a Gothic, Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France.  Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in France and in Europe, and the naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass are in contrast with earlier Romanesque architecture. The first period of construction from 1163 into 1240s coincided with the musical experiments of the Notre Dame school.

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 the choir 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 was essentially complete by 1345.

Joan of Arc

Timeline of Construction

1160 Maurice de Sully (named Bishop of Paris), orders the original cathedral to be demolished.

1163 Cornerstone laid for Notre Dame de Paris—construction begins.

1182 Apse and choir completed.

1196 Bishop Maurice de Sully dies.

c.1200 Work begins on western facade.

1208 Bishop Eudes de Sully dies. Nave vaults nearing completion.

1225 Western facade completed.

1250 Western towers and north rose window completed.

c.1245–1260s Transepts remodelled in the Rayonnant style by Jean de Chelles then Pierre de Montreuil

1250–1345 Remaining elements completed