bonjour! bienvenue à Paris!

First few things that comes into mind when talking about Paris…

1. The Beautiful Parisiennes, 2. Eiffel Tower, 3. The Louvre, 4.  Paris Fashion Week, 5. Arc d’Triumph, 6. The Beautiful Parisiennes (oops! I said that already), 6. Sienne River, 7. Monmartre, 8. Luis Vuitton, 9. YSL, 10. Champs-Élysées, 11. Versailles, 12. The Monna Lisa, 13. Notre Dame and 14. The Moulin Rouge.–I’m 11 out of 14!!! I missed out on The Paris Fashion Week, YSL and Versailles!!!! :(

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Eiffel Tower (Tour L’Eiffel in french). Eiffel Tower has always been a must-see structure for the past 120 years. It has been visited over 200 Million times since its construction and still remains to be the most visited paid monument in the world. When in Paris, take a stroll along the river Sienne, and take a glimpse why this 120+ year old tower has become France’s global icon.

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Monmartre.–Heart of the bohemian Paris. Located on the north-side of Paris, you must take the metro to Pigalle (careful not to stray… Pigalle is the epicenter of Paris’ Red Light District). Take a stroll uphill, hop on to the funicular to Monmartre–the old Paris with its century old cafes, brasseries, and boulangeries. Here you can experience Paris the more traditional way. Purchase a French painting from a local Artist. Have your portrait painted and sketched. By sunset, watch Entertainers at the steps of Basilique du Sacré-Cœur (overlooking Paris), Listen to Local and Traveling Musicians & Mimes, Greet fellow Travelers & Lovers.

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Monna Lisa (La Joconde – french). This 500+ year old masterpiece is viewed by about 6 million people at the Louvre each year–each spending an average of 15 seconds to try grasping the enigmatic expression of Lisa del Giocondo. That is an average of 500,000 people per month, 17,000 people per day.–TRUE STORY!

I am very lucky to take a photograph of this extra-ordinary painting. Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Monna Lisa in 1503 (during the Italian Renaissance) and, according to Vasari, “after he had lingered over it four years, left it unfinished….”; He is thought to have continued to work on it for three years after he moved to France and to have finished it shortly before he died in 1519.

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Paris is truly an amazing City! One of my “Favorite Cities in the World”. The kind of City I also had the hardest time leaving… The kind of city that melts your heart and leaves you breathless with longing. I can’t wait to go back and visit my friend Tati! :D I can’t wait to take more photos around the city! I can’t wait to visit Versailles, YSL and experience the Paris’ Fashion Week.

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Paris je t’aime !

Bonne journée ! Bisou !

Warning: Re-post from Blogspot (August 05 2008)

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The most Visited City in the World, PARIS! 44 Million tourist per year. Here are the numbers… In a span of 1 month, I have been to exactly 17 Countries all over Europe. I was on 2 back-to-back tour groups, one with Princess Cruises (10-day Cruise around Scandinavian and Russia), and another one with Cosmos Tours (12-day Wonders of Europe Coach Tour). I managed to take 4,244 Photographs with my Canon EOS 5D, and another 25 rolls of 120 Film with my candy colored Holga. all this in Europe, frankly, I don’t think it is enough to capture its awesomeness! I wish I could have stayed more days in some cities, taken more photographs, and brought more film with me… I even looked around for Lomography shops and look for 120films–but very hard to find! My Canon EOS 5D shots amounted to a total of 57.48 GB on my MacbookPro–this took me more than 2-3 months to sort, edit and upload photos for viewing. Luckily I have a very powerful macbookpro to work with.

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Click here to view the European Favorites Collection Albums

Click here to view the Europe through a Candy Colored Holga Favorites Collection Albums

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Some interesting facts and numbers while I was on my EuroTrip:
167.5 is the number of tunnels we passed through from Florence to the border of France.

16,000 meters is the Longest tunnel we passed in Switzerland

4,400 Km is the distance traveled by our Cosmos Tour coach.

37.8 is the average age of the tour group I was with.