Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0136/01367.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 23KB | 489 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01367}
$Pretitle{416}
$Title{France
A Paradise For Lovers.}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{French Embassy, Washington DC}
$Affiliation{French Embassy, Washington DC}
$Subject{paris
you'll
de
museum
art
world
find
france
louis
century}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Country:     France
Book:        A Paradise For Lovers.
Author:      French Embassy, Washington DC
Affiliation: French Embassy, Washington DC
Date:        1990

A Paradise For Lovers.

     France is a country for lovers! For your honeymoon, or your golden
anniversary, no other country in the world can offer you as many special
moments as France and its capital, Paris.

     But France is not just a paradise for those in love. It offers an
unlimited choice to lovers of art, whether classic or modern, lovers of luxury
and refinement, lovers of gastronomy, lovers of night life, lovers of
sports...

     And a change of scenery is only a short trip away-less than an hour by
plane, two hours by train, a promenade by car and you can go from a sunny
beach to the snow-covered slopes of the Alps, from the charms of vieux Paris
to a gastronomic inn on the banks of the Loire.

     So...come to France!

     If you dream of the Mona Lisa and the Lido girls, of Picasso and Olympic
skiing, of opera under the star-covered skies of Provence and vintage
champagne, come!

     If you dream of haute couture and golf, of barge trips on the canals and
gourmet cuisine, of warm sands and the Eiffel Tower, come! France will welcome
you with warmth and charm.

     With all its heart.

Paris: a brilliant past

     For lovers of art, Paris is a perpetual wonder! You love Roman
architecture? Paris possesses magnificent vestiges. You adore gothic churches?
Paris has the most beautiful. Classical monuments move you? Louis XIV
scattered them all over the capital. Museums fascinate you? The Louvre will
inspire you. Plus a host of smaller museums... some more intimate, some more
specialized.

     But before wandering the streets of the capital, to discover
centuries-old treasures that have enchanted generations of visitors... close
your eyes!

     Paris begins in the morning with the warm perfume of croissants, the
chirping of birds, a ray of sunshine piercing the blinds of your room... Then,
and only then, open your eyes!

     You'll discover Paris from the deck of a bateau mouche gliding slowly on
the Seine, from the foot of the Eiffel Tower to the towers of Notre-Dame. A
tranquil promenade while you watch an enchanting parade of stone, bronze and
gold file by bearing names such as the Invalides, the Conciergerie or the
Institute...

     And you'll contemplate Paris from the terrace of Sacre-Coeur in
Montmartre or from the top of the Arc de Triomphe when the soft light at the
end of the day shines on the multi-colored roofs of the great monuments or
delicately outlines the dome of the Pantheon.

     But, Paris is not a city petrified in its history and empty of life! Its
three million inhabitants who live, work, love and play there everyday are
ready to convince you.

     Proud of their capital, proud of their homes, proud of the artistic
wealth inherited from centuries of grandeur, they'll guide you through the
evidence of an exceptional past.

the soul of vieux Paris

     Appreciated already by the Romans under the name of Lutece, at the
beginning of the Christian era (you can still see the Arenas and the Baths),
Paris first developed on two islands, then expanded over the ages on the two
banks of the Seine.

     So to find the birthplace of the City, rendezvous on the lle de la Cite.

     Three prestigious monuments were built there, beginning in the 13th
century: the gothic cathedral of Notre-Dame whose flying buttresses seem to
surge from the Seine, the imposing Conciergerie palace and the delicate
Sainte-Chapelle, a veritable lacework of stone.

     A footbridge leads from the lle dela Cite to the lle Saint-Louis, with
its quays lined with lovely 17th century mansions. An island which invites
wandering...while enjoying the best ice cream cones in Paris (Berthillon, rue
Saint-Louis-en-l'lle).

     If you choose the right bank, follow the Seine to the west and soon the
Louvre will open its immense galleries to you. Before displaying the Mona
Lisa, Louis XIV' diamonds, the Venues de Milo and thousands of treasures from
ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, the Louvre was a royal palace for five
centuries. And holds countless souvenirs of its past.

     When you leave the Louvre, be sure to admire the most beautiful
perspective in Paris: the Arch of Triumph of the Carrousel, the obelisk of the
Place de la Concorde, and in the distance, l'Etoile with the Arc de Triomphe.
At sunset, it's spectacular!

     Cross the Tuileries gardens and you'll arrive at the Place de la
Concorde, with its elegant twin mansions designed by Gabriel. Constructed by
Louis XIV, it is here that his descendant Louis XVI was guillotined!

the charm of the left bank

     "Intellectual" Paris opens its doors to you when you cross the Seine. A
university center for nearly a thousand years, with its colleges, its
bookshops, its publishers, the "rive gauche" is a quarter to be savored step
by step. Of course, it also boasts magnificent buildings: the Hotel des
Invalides where Napoleon was laid to rest, the Pantheon where the great men
of France are buried, the Institute, temple of the intelligentsia, and the
Cluny Museum, a gothic wonder.

     Here you'll find superb Louis XIII facades of brick and stone, 17th and
18th century mansions constructed between courtyards and gardens, gothic
and classical churches. While wandering along the streets, you'll stop -- here
in front of a richly sculpted carriage entrance, there, beneath a balcony
supported by plump caryatids. And, when you want to take a break, you'll stop
on a small, picturesque square and order a coffee and... croissants.

museums for all tastes

     Other places in Paris preserve the treasures of French genius: the
museums. There's one to satisfy every taste, every passion.

     - The Cluny Museum with its famous 15th c. tapestries of "The Lady and
the Unicorn."

     - The manufacture des Gobelins, created by Louis XIV, which still weaves
tapestries for kings, princes and celebrities throughout the world.

     - The Museum of Decorative Arts with its rare furniture.

     - The Nissim de Camondo Museum, a perfectly restored 18th c. house where
not a single dish is missing.

     - The Carnavalet Museum which relates the history of Paris.

     - And the Museum of the Hunt (Musee de la Chasse), or even that of the
Lock (la Serrurie). You could also choose the Marine Museum with its splendid
models, or the Museum of French Monuments, representing centuries of art.
Finally, don't miss the latest born: the Fashion Museum (Musee de la Mode
et de la Couture) that stars haute couture.

     Today's art began the day that Manet painted his Olympia, that Cezanne
placed three apples on a plate, that Renoir turned a woman's face into a
hymn to life.

     Ever since, painters, sculptors, engravers, architects and artists from
throughout the world have come to France, and especially to Paris, to bring
their personal contribution to this artistic movement in perpetual evolution.
Haunted by the need to mark the word "beauty" with the seal of their genius,
they have bequeathed an exceptional heritage to lovers of modern art. A
heritage so abundant that Paris has created two new museums in the past ten
years to welcome this astonishing explosion.

     Thus in 1977, the Pompidou Center was inaugurated, a futuristic building
whose facade is made of tubes, air ducts and exterior escalators! A unique
decor, the only one worthy of sheltering the largest modern art museum in
France.

     The most famous artists of the 20th century are represented here: the
fauves, Tels Vlaminck, Van Dongen, Derain and Matisse, the cubists who
gathered around Picasso, such as Juan Gris or Marcel Duchamp, the colorists
as strik