People praying at the main altar (Wong Tai Sin) of the temple

The temple was closing soon (closed at 530pm) as we arrived; that’s probably why it wasn’t as crowded as expected. The temple is popular among Hong Kongers as the place of worship, and a key icon in Hong Kong’s traditional culture.

The buildings and compound didn’t excite me though; as a Chinese, I have seen numerous temples, and some of them are much grander in architecture sense; but I guess Wong Tai Sin Temple could still appeal for Westerners and those who haven’t seen much Chinese temples.

The Legend of Wong Tai Sin

Wong Tai Sin was not his actual name; ‘Tai Sin’ in literally means ‘Great Deity’ in English.

I remember watching a drama that was based on the legend of Wong Tai Sin years ago. Can’t really recall the whole story… but Wong Tai Sin was supposed to be a mortal at the beginning, and in the end turn immortal by practising Taoism and helping people.

It is believed that Wong Tai Sin has the power of healing; but I think Hong Kongers prayed to him for everything these days.

Wong Tai Sin doesn’t originate from Hong Kong though, but from mainland China instead. His influence only spread to Hong Kong in early 20th century after being worshipped in homeland for hundreds of years.

The Wong Tai Sin temple at the current location was built in 1921. Besides the main altar, there are also other shrines for other deities; and various halls for different purposes.

I had never heard of this place prior to the visit, but our tour guide told us that it’s a wonderful place, that there’s a saying which if Jesus is to be born onto earth again, it will be at St Paul.

The statement might be over-exaggerating, but St Paul was a lovely place indeed. The fortified village structure was something that I had never seen before; and its environment, the narrow streets and stony buildings were simply mesmerising.

The only regret I had, was that we were not able to spend much time there to fully appreciate the place. Back then, I had vowed to visit the place again… I am not so sure about the feeling now, but at that moment, I think I was in love with St Paul de Vence.

Photo of Saint Paul de Vence

Photos at Saint Paul de Vence

I was not too impressed by the Palace. Set aside its history, the only thing that worth mentioning is perhaps its enormous size. There might be some interesting stuff in the palace, but I didn’t have much time to explore it… we were just stopping at Avignon for lunch and a short break as we were heading for Nice.

Photo of Palais des Papes

History of the Palace

Avignon became the residence of the Popes in 1309. The current Palace was a reconstruction of the old bishops’ palace; the reconstruction was initiated by the 3rd Avignon Pope, Pope Benedict XII (1334-42), and continued by his successors to 1364.

Besides serving as the Popes’ Palace, the building was also built as a fortress.

The last Pope that stayed in the Palace was Pope Gregory XI; he decided to move back to Rome in 1377 and died in 1378.

Papal Schism

The death of Pope Gregory XI has led to Papal Schism (or Western Schism) which saw a split within the Catholic Church. Pope Urban VI was elected as the successor, but his dignity and capability was soon questioned by some cardinals. Majority of the cardinals then removed themselves from Rome and elected Pope Clement VII, whom re-established a papal court in Avignon in the same year.

The Papal Schism lasted almost 40 years (1378-1417), by the end of the era, there was 3 men simultaneously claimed to be the real Pope (Rome, Avignon and Pisa). The papacy was continued by the Roman line in the end.

Photos of Palais des Papes

L’Hôtel des Monnaies, a 17th century hotel just opposite the palace

The cathedral was built in 12th century; the most prominent feature of the building is the gilded statue of Virgin Mary on top of the tower.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Doms d’Avignon and its Virgin Mary statue

Photo of Basilica de Fourvière

Fourvière is the site of the original Roman settlement of Lugdunum in 43BC, or in simple words… it is the place where Lyon was founded.

Basilica de Fourvière was not built in that era though; it was built built between 1872 and 1896 instead.

I guess most visitors would tour the basilica at day time, but it should be a good idea to check the basilica at night as well…

Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon

Les Galeries Lafayette and its famous Dome

We had a bit of extra time after visiting Louvre, and my sister (she visited Paris before) led me to Lafayette, which is just a few blocks away, to have a glimpse at the famous dome. We didn’t have enough time to do have a walk inside the store, but the dome itself was worth a visit.

The Louvre Pyramid, built in 1989 by architect I.M. Pei

Photo taking was not allowed in the Louvre, and we only had slightly over an hour to explore the large collection, which was clearly not enough. In fact it would probably take days, weeks or months to explore every bit of the museum.

Despite the rush, we managed to take a look at the famous Mona Lisa painting with her creepy smile.

The Inverted Pyramid (La Pyramide Inversée)
In the final chapter of “The Da Vinci Code,”
the Holy Grail is buried beneath the small
pyramid below the inverted glass pyramid

History of the Louvre [Reference]

The building of Louvre itself was quite a story.

Louvre was initially a fortress to protect Paris from the Anglo-Norman threat in the 12th century. The fortress lost it purpose in the 15th century and was torn down to be reconstructed into a palace in the 16th century.

The construction of the current Louvre building begun in 1546 and was only completed in 1876. The Palais du Louvre lost its original purpose when Louis XIV moved to Versailles in 1670s.

In 1692, Louis XIV ordered the creation of a gallery of antique sculpture in Louvre, thus initiated the transformation of Louvre from a palace to a museum. The Museum Central des Arts was officially opened to the public as a museum in 1793, and the collections gradually spread to take over the building, to become the Louvre Museum we have today.

Basilica of the Sacred Heart

Visitors could walk uphill or take a funicular instead. My sister and I chose to take the funicular to go up and walked down later on.

Montmartre primes itself as the artistic centre of Paris since the late 19th century; but arts were not really our cup of tea, so we didn’t spend much time there. The basilica was lovely though; worth going up hill just to take a few photos of it.

We had crêpe for our lunch; the taste was different from the crêpe we had at Latin Quarter, but both were absolutely yummy. I was falling in love with the simple yet delicious snack.

We walked down the hill and had the leisure to shop for some postcards and French junk food before boarding on our bus for our next destination.

Artists and tourists at Montmartre

Paris city and the beautiful Seine River

Can you spot Arc de Triomphe?

Shadow of Eiffel and the Trocadéro; high rise buildings can be seen in newer area of Paris

The far point at the centre of picture is Montmartre and Basilica of the Sacred Heart

Champ de Mars

The Paris view from Eiffel Tower was amazing; the enlightening experience has sparked my interest to see a city from birds-view whenever possible in future.

Eiffel Tower look golden in early sunshine

There are 3 levels of platforms that are opened to public, and the entrance fees ranged from 4.50€ to 11.50€ for adults (using the elevator); level 1 and 2 is accessible by stairs (over 600 steps) as well, and with cheaper entrance fees. [Entrance fees reference]

The 2nd level platform (~115 metres) offers the best view of Paris, and the perfect range for photographs. [Read my next post for photos of the panoramic view of Paris] The 3rd level is probably too high to see the city in details.

Eiffel Tower is arguably the most visited landmark in the world; it has been visited by 229,623,812 visitors since its opening in 1889 until 2006. [Reference]

The tower (including its antenna) is 324 metres high, and was once the tallest building in the world; it is still the tallest building in Paris.

Eiffel Tower’s structural view from
the ascending elevator

History of Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower started its construction in 1887 and completed in 1889. The tower was built in conjunction to the World’s Fair in Paris in 1889, the Exposition Universelle.

The name Eiffel Tower was derived from Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the designer of the tower, who was assisted by Emile Nouguier, Maurice Koechlin and Stephen Sauvestre in constructing the iron structure.

The construction of Eiffel Tower created strong reactions from Parisians, claiming that the design was ugly and distaste to French art… but nothing could stop the construction of the tower.

Eiffel Tower was supposed to be torn down in 1909; it was initially built to be easily dismantled at the beginning. However, at that time, the tower’s antenna was heavily used for communication (telegraph) purpose, thus putting off the dismantle plan.

Besides, Eiffel Tower was already a prime tourist attraction back then, bringing in huge economic value for Paris and France… and Parisians began to accept the tower as a symbol of modernization. Given all the circumstances, the Eiffel Tower was destined to stay as a permanent icon for Paris.

(left) On the 2nd level platform of Eiffel Tower; it seemed like a sunny morning, but it was quite chilly… I was regretting that I wore just a t-shirt; (right) true color of the tower

Photo of Notre Dame de Paris

Prior to the visit at Notre Dame, all I wanted from Paris was to ascend Eiffel Tower and have a peak at Mona Lisa at the Louvre… but I changed the idea after seeing the cathedral up close.

The carvings and sculptures on the wall of Notre Dame were simply amazing. I used to think that Notre Dame is just an old and huge cathedral; I never perceived that it would be a masterpiece of art and architecture. The experience really opens my mind that there must be lots of places and stuff (besides Eiffel and Mona Lisa) in Paris that would enlighten me during the tour.

Sculptures above the entrance at western facade of Notre Dame

We were just on time to enter the cathedral as it was closing in another half an hour, and how lucky we were. My sister was charmed by the lovely Rose Windows, but I was simply stunned by the enormous size of the cathedral… it simply took my breath away as I never thought that a church could be that huge.

Enormous interior of Notre Damel

Even though I am not a religious person, I felt so calm and peaceful inside Notre Dame. It was a wonderful experience, and a great place to kick-start my journey in Paris.

Rose Window inside Notre Dame

Notre Dame – random facts

Notre Dame means ‘our lady’ in French. The construction of the cathedral was started in 1163, and was only fully completed in 1345.

Notre Dame was almost destructed in early 19th century due to disrepair. Victor Hugo then wrote the famous “Hunchback of Notre Dame” which played a part in raising interest to restore the Gothic cathedral, which finally happened in 1845.

Notre Dame is still used as a Roman Catholic cathedral these days.

[More pictures of Notre Dame at my next post]

Pulteney Bridge across River Avon

I didn’t pay much attention to the bridge initially, it looked like a simple shopping-street at the moment we crossed it; I didn’t even know how its external looks like.

I only developed interest with Pulteney Bridge when visiting some souvenir shops near Bath Abbey and found a nice postcard of it… I thought to myself ‘Wow, what a beauty…’ and asked for direction to the river bank (which was just a block away) and snapped some photos.

The bridge is actually fame for its two ‘faces’; one side of the bridge is the beautiful Georgian architecture as seen above, the other side is rather shabby because of the shop alterations and enlargement in the 19th century. I didn’t have the time to see the bridge from the other side… but it might be a good idea just to see the beauty side of it.

River of Avon, Bath

Kennet and Avon Canal

The Kennet and Avon Canal was built in 1794-1810 to connect River Avon and River Kennet (which connects to River Thames); the canal runs from Bristol (passes by Bath) to Reading with series of locks and weirs to allow the boats to navigate through the valley.

The canal only enjoyed a few decades of glory as the railway gradually took over as the main transportation method in mid 1800s. The canal was hardly used in early 20th century and was eventually closed in 1950s.

The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust was formed in 1960s to restore the canal; and the canal finally reopened in 1990 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Today, Avon and Kennet Canal is a popular heritage tourism destination and played a great part in wildlife conservation.

I grabbed a sandwich and found a bench just outside of the Bath Abbey’s West Front. They were some street performers playing musical instruments and doing some tricks at the small square; and a group of Japanese girls were there to show a short Japanese traditional dance too.

The West Front of Bath Abbey

Bath Abbey was built in the 12th century, with a few major restorations during its 800+ years of history to what we are seeing now. Bath Abbey is the greatest Gothic church in England, and probably one of the most amazing Gothic architectures in Europe as well.

The Bath Abbey is opened for public for visit or prayers; the entrance is free but donations are certainly welcome.

Our guide drove us around the city to see some places like the Royal Crescent and The Circus.

Most buildings in the city were built of limestone, which were originally yellowish (some said golden); but lots of the buildings looked dark and brownish because of the age and pollution.

The city was undergoing a massive restoration and cleaning during my visit in order to return the city to its yellowish appearance. Lots of roads were blocked because of this, and the traffic was pretty horrendous.

The Royal Crescent, a row of building that was built in an arch (crescent) shape. You can see from the pic that some parts of the building had been cleaned and looked more yellowish (the rest were darker)

Brief History of Bath

Bath is famous for its Roman baths which was built by the Romans during their occupation of Britain (43AD – 410AD).

Bath re-achieved its glory in the 17th century after Thomas Guidott published his work about the curative properties of the hot spring waters, which caught the attention of the country and the royals.

In the 18th and 19th century during the Georgian times, Bath was a resort city for the royals and the wealthy. Lots of the current Bath’s architecture was built during that period.

The wooden door of the entrance was pretty heavy; I got into the church and I was the only person around. The church was so quiet and peaceful, I felt like I could spend hours just sitting in the church even though I am not a Christian.

Photo of the St Cyriac’s Church

History of St Cyriac’s Church

The Church of St Cyriac was built in late 11th century by Edward of Salisbury (Lacock) and William of Eu (Lackham).

Only a few fragments of the church survive; the structure today was mainly constructed in around 1450 as the church was rebuilt thanks to prosperity of the wool and cloth trade during that era.

Parts of the church was built or rebuilt over hundreds of years to become the St Cyriac’s Church it is today. [reference]