Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0136/01369.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 9KB | 162 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01369}
$Pretitle{416}
$Title{France
Itineraries-Paris}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{French Embassy, Washington DC}
$Affiliation{French Embassy, Washington DC}
$Subject{museum
le
paris
de
french
palace
visit
france
gardens
old}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Country:     France
Book:        A Paradise For Lovers.
Author:      French Embassy, Washington DC
Affiliation: French Embassy, Washington DC
Date:        1990

Itineraries-Paris

     Paris-On a first visit to Paris you should start at Notre-Dame, the
Ste-Chapelle and the Conciergerie on the lle de la Cite where Paris was
founded. The Hotel des Invalides houses the Army Museum and Napoleon is buried
in a red granite tomb in the adjoining St-Louis church. Nearby, the Musee
d'Orsay and its Impressionists. The Marseillaise, the national anthem, is
inscribed around the Arc de Triomphe at the Etoile, from where there is a
magnificent view down the Champs-Elysees to the Place de la Concorde and the
Louvre, "the most beautiful museum in the world in the greatest palace in the
world". The Louvre is a must! Another itinerary could start at the Palais
Royal and take in Moliere's Theatre Francais the home of the
comedie-Francaise. The old market quarter, Les Halles, is now being completely
rebuilt. Don't miss the Pompidou Center, temple of Modern Art, and the Forum
des Halles for shopping. St-Eustache and St-Germain-l'Auxerrois, St-Jacques,
St-Merri, the Town Hall, St-Gervais and the marvellous Marais district with
its splendid recently restored buildings, including the Picasso Museum
installed in the Hotel Sale. Montmartre, with the St-Pierre church, the Sacre
Coeur and the Place du Tertre should be included and you can end the evening
with a show. Then go over to the Left Bank and the students' quarter (the
Quartier Latin and the Boul'Mich). There are the Botanical Gardens and the
Mosque, and Mansart drew up the plans for the building of the Val de Grace.
The Montaigne Ste-Genevieve - in the 5th-century it helped protect Paris from
Attila the Hun - is named after the city's patron saint. Close by is the
Pantheon, the last resting place of the great men of France and Cardinal
Richelieu is buried in the Sorbonne church. Go on next to the Luxembourg
Gardens, with its great palace built for Queen Marie de Medici, and the
churches of St-Sulpice and St-Germain-des-Pres. You can round off your visit
to the Left Bank at the Cluny Museum.

     Morse and Fulton, the American inventors, pioneered Panoramic Painting
and the Passage des Panoramas was named after this style of painting. Ernest
Hemingway was among many American writers who settled in Paris in the 1920s.

     There is a great deal to see and do in Paris and you would be well
advised to stay on there for a few days before setting off again.

     The lle-de-France is the name given to the area surrounding Paris and it
was in this lovely and gentle countryside that the former French monarchs
built the extravagant Palace of Versailles. The palace was extensively
renovated after the 1914 war thanks to the generosity of John D. Rockefeller,
and President Wilson signed the 1919 Armistice there. There are Napoleonic
links at Fontainebleau and Malmaison.

     Versailles - The town of the Kings of France where the great Louis XIV
palace was built by Le Vau and Mansart while Le Brun contributed the interior.
The principal facade extends for 580 m and the famous Gallery of Mirrors is
17th-century. The treaty of Versailles, creating the League of Nations, was
signed there in 1919. There are luxurious State Apartments, the Orangery and
the Grand Trianon (1787). Marie-Antoinette's favourite residence was Le Petit
Trianon, dating from Louis XV's time. Le Notre laid out the classical French
gardens, the fountains and the lakes. Although the French call Versailles a
"chateau", it is in every sense a palace. The park and gardens are superb.

     La Mamaison - There is a Napoleonic Museum in this large and lovely house
with many mementos of the French Emperor and the Empress Josephine.

     St-Germain-en-Laye - Only the keep and the chapel, where Claude of France
was married in 1514 to the future Francis I, remain of the old castle. The
National Antiquity Museum is in the New Castle and Le Notre designed the
terrace. The Musee du Prieure for Maurice Denis.

     St-Denis - The twin-towered Gothic cathedral acted as a model for Senlis
and Meaux who later built Charters. The tombs of the Kings of France provide
superb examples of funereal sculpture over the centuries. You can also visit
the old Royal Mausoleum. In front of it there is a fragment of "Montjoie"
commemorating the return of the mortal remains of St-Louis, brought back by
his son, Philip the Rash.

     Royaumont - The abbey of Royaumont was founded in 1228 by St-Louis under
the Citeaux order. In the ruined abbey there is a refectory where St-Louis
served the monks. The convent buildings are now used as a Cultural Centre.

     St-Leu-d'Esserent - The church here was once part of a Benedictine priory
and two galleries of the cloister still survive. The imposing apse stretches
as far as the edge of the cliff overlooking the Oise.

     Chantilly - The fine art collection of the Duke of Aumale, the son of
King Louis-Philippe, is housed in the castle, with its reminders of the Grand
Conde. The Great Stables date from Louis XV's reign and fashionable society
attends the racecourse for the Prix de Diane and the Jockey Club Stakes.

     Senlis - The houses, churches and old buildings are grouped around the
foot of Notre-Dame cathedral, with its graceful 13th-century spire piercing
towards the heavens, in this very old town with its Gallo-Roman precincts.
You should visit the Hunting Museum housed in part of the St-Maurice priory.
The St-Vincent abbey is now used as a school.

     Compiegne - In its delightful setting between the Oise and the forests
surrounding it, Compiegne offers both beautiful countryside and many reminders
of its historical past, including Gabriel's huge palace with its royal and
imperial apartments. The museum, which recalls the Second Empire with
furniture from the period, is in the apartments formerly occupied by the
Marshalls and a Car and Tourist Museum is in the former kitchen courtyard.
The town hall dates from the end of the Gothic period and the Museum of
Historical Miniatures includes 85,000 tiny models in every type of uniform.
You can also visit the clearing in the forest where the armistice was signed
on November 11, 1918.

     Pierrefonds - Pierrefonds is on the edge of the forest and on the shores
of a small lake. The fortress was rebuilt as a model of its type by
Viollet-Leduc on the same site as the original castle.

     Morienval - South-west of the Forest of Compiegne you can see thee three
Romanesque towers of the church of Notre-Dame, one of the most beautiful
religious buildings in the lle-de-France, rising from the valley.

     Meaux - The memory of Bossuet, "The Eagle of Meaux", who is buried
beneath a black marble flagstone, still lives on in the beautiful St-Etienne
cathedral with its Flamboyant Gothic facade. The former bishopric has two
fine vaulted rooms on the ground floor and a sloping ramp proving access to
the next floor. There is also a Bossuet Museum.

     Vaux-le-Vicomte - Nicolas Fouquet, the Financial Controller at the time
of Mazarin, had this fine 17th-century castle built in cut stone by Le Vau
with Le Brun responsible for the interior. The facade looks out to some
beautiful gardens designed by Le Notre. Scenes of life of the epoch have been
recreated in the ancient stables.

     Fontainebleau - One of the three great palaces of France with a series
of beautifully decorated apartments, it is set in a lovely forest near Paris
surrounded by splendid gardens. If you want to improve your history of France
a visit to Fontainebleau is as indispensable as is one to Versailles. Napoleon
signed his abdication here.

     Barbizon - The landscape painters of the last century made this little
village o