Across the Seine River is the end of the Louvre which runs many many blocks along the riverside. It was originally a fort but now houses the words best art galleries. It became open to the public in 1793 during the French Revolution.
There is an arch here that links the Arc de Triomphe with the Louvre down the Champs Elysées.
The Tuileries gardens are in front of the Louvre. It is the former site of a tile factory (Tuileries means tiles). It was a royal garden but is now open to the public.
Place Vendome is famous for being the square with the former homes of Chopin and Hemingway. The large column in the middle was built to honor the battle of Austerlitz under Napoleon and has a statue of him on the top of the column which is made from canons. It also houses expensive shops and jewelers, as well as the Ritz hotel where Princess Diana departed from the night she died.
It empties into the Rue de la Paix which is where the jewelry shops are. We drove by so early tha the jewels had not yet been put out in the windows.
The Opera House was the site for Phantom of the Opera. Lots of oohs and aahs as we drove by. People came to see and be seen, not necessarily for the show. It was built for Napoleon the 3rd in the 19th century who was emperor at the time. The emporer had a special entrance designed just for him so he could roll up in his carriage and go straight to his seat, although he never got to use it before he fell from power. Around it are the grand boulevards designed by Haussmann in the 1860s and the famous department stores.
The Orsay museum was a train station and is now an art museum of the 19th century, housing Monet, Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh, and other.
The National Assembly is the French parliament. It is currently closed because of upcoming elections and because one of the deputies is ill with the coronavirus.
The Concorde Square was built in the 18th century. It is the largest square in the city and was formally a royal square. The column here is a gift from Egypt. It stands between the Arc de Triomphe at the top of the Champs Elysées and the Louvre. It was the site of the guillotine in the French Revolution and the site of the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
The former palaces that are now art museums, the grand and petit Palais.
Home of UNESCO, which protects important cultural sites worldwide.
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