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

We stopped by Avignon on our journey from Lyon to Nice for our lunch and a bit of extra time to have a walk around the city.

City of Avignon, France

Random photos of Avignon

Opera Theatre in Avignon

Avignon Cathedral and Palais des Papes

Avignon branch of Banque de France (Central Bank of France)

Hotel de Ville… also the city hall of Avignon

A unique sculpture alongside the old city wall

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

The main attraction of the park is probably the variety of fountains that runs during weekends and some special holidays. My visit was on Tuesday unfortunately.

Garden, fountains and statue at Park of Versailles

Nudity is common art in those days

Goodbye Versailles

Groups of Africans were selling merchandises (mostly scarves) outside of the palace ground, without proper permits obviously. I thought I would only see that in 3rd world countries… didn’t expect to see that in France.

The visit to Versailles was pretty rush; I only had less than 3 hours to visit both the palace and the park, which obviously was not sufficient. 3 hours is probably not enough to explore the palace in details, let alone to walk through the massive garden.

I can’t be too disappointed though; that’s part of the pros and cons for following an organized tour… you got to see a lot of things, but you probably won’t see much of it in depth.

Me, Versailles and the statue of Louis XIV

Goodbye Versailles

Château de Versailles in early morning

Photos of Château de Versailles

We were the earliest group of visitors; in fact we were so early that we had to wait for half an hour before we were allowed to get inside of the palace.

Versailles is said to be the most luxurious palace in the world, and I think it’s probably true… as most of the rooms show amazing craftsmanship, and are decorated with gold, crystal chandeliers, paintings and antiques.

The famous Hall of Mirrors (La galerie des Glaces); too bad that large section of the hall was closed for renovation back then… I couldn’t feel the glamour that was often said about it

Art gallery in the palace

The palace witnessed some important historical events. The huge maintenance cost of Versailles and luxurious lifestyle of the royals was one of the main factors that triggered the French Revolution, which witnessed the beheading of Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette.

The ceiling of Versaille’s chapel

The palace also witnessed the signing of Treaty of Versailles in 1919, which officially ended the World War I between the Allied & Associated Powers and Germany.

Besides the palace building, Versailles’s garden is also a huge attraction for tourists. Read my next post for some pictures from the garden.

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.

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

Pont-Neuf, which means ‘New Bridge’, is ironically the oldest standing bridge in Paris (left); Musée d’Orsay (The Orsay Museum), formerly a train station, now an art museum

Institut de France (French Institute), connected by pedestrian bridge Pont des Arts
(Bridge of the Arts) to Lourve at the other end

The highlight of the night was Eiffel Tower; it was a WOW experience when I first saw the tower with its spectacular light show… I could feel my adrenalin pumping; it was an exciting moment that I would cherish for life.

Eiffel Tower and its light show at night

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]

Photo of the Stonehenge

The Stonehenge was first erected more than 5000 years ago and being re-modified (categorized into 3 phases in general) until the most recent at around 1600BC.

There are a number of hypothesis for Stonehenge, but nobody really knows who and why they built the monument. The stones are said to be arranged astrologically and the general belief is that it was built for worship purpose.

My sister who visited the site earlier had warned me that the stones are much smaller than expected… it’s true. Stonehenge isn’t as gigantic as I anticipated, but it’s still pretty huge though. Set the size aside; I was really glad that I was able to see Stonehenge with my own eyes, it was a wonderful feeling.

What I didn’t expect was that the location of Stonehenge is actually pretty close to a highway (you can see the cars from the site). Modern development vs. prehistoric monument… such irony.

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.

The Great Bath of Roman Baths

The Roman Baths complex is now developed into a museum; an audio-guide was provided (with multiple languages to choose from) with a nominal entrance fees.

Inside the museum were mostly ruins from its original Roman site. The most famous spot within the Roman Baths is perhaps the green pool of The Great Bath. The pool is green because of the algae that grow in it; the spring water itself is just like water.

Mind that the water is not safe to touch or drink because it’s infested with bacteria.

People can drink the spring water at the classy 300-year-old Pump Room Restaurant instead. In fact I was thinking of having lunch there (the price was decent by UK standard) but gave up due to time constraint.

The Great Bath; ruins of the Hippocamp mosaic (bottom left); aqueduct for spring overflow (bottom right) – the stones are reddish because of the minerals from the spring water.

Roman Baths History

The first settlers at the hot spring were the Celts, who built a shrine dedicated to the goddess Sulis. The area was named Aquae Sulis by the Romans during their occupation of Britain (43AD – 410AD).

The Romans then developed the Roman Baths complex, with numerous huge and small bath tubs, Roman temples and courtyard; at its prime it’s said that the complex could fit in 3000 people in all the bath tubs.

The complex was not properly maintained after the Romans left and many structures were fallen apart. The Roman complex was redeveloped again in 18th century, including some of the current structures.