My Memories of Traveling Abroad #14: France
2023-11-07
On March 31, 2017, we left Interlaken (Switzerland) and approached border between Switzerland and France. The tourist bus stops in front of border checkpoint in Switzerland, checkpoint is very basic and it's really not as good as inter-provincial highway checkpoint in our country. Since Switzerland is not a member of "Schengen Agreement", you need to apply for a visa to travel to France from Switzerland. The tour guide must go through exit procedures here before we can officially enter France.
Checkpoint at Swiss border
After we spent night in an unknown town in France, on April 1, after several hours of hiking, tourist bus finally arrived in key city of our eight-country tour of Europe - Paris, capital of France. ! When we entered center of Paris, we did not feel that this is a modern metropolis, we did not see either a noisy center or skyscrapers, more than 90% of streets on both sides were historical buildings, but great Famous Paris attracts tourists from all over world with its unique charm and romantic style.
Night view of Seine in Paris
On second day after arriving in Paris, first thing we did was visit Louvre. The Louvre is located on north bank of Seine in center of Paris. It was built in 1204. It is most magnificent royal palace in history of France. 50 French kings lived in it. The Louvre is also number one museum in palace, known as "Palace of Ten Thousand Treasures" , 400,000 precious collections are kept. The tour guide said: You can't read Louvre collections in three days and three nights. This is true. We don’t even know names of many of collections. I checked information beforehand and found out that most famous collections in Louvre are three treasures called town hall: Venus with broken arms, Mona Lisa, goddess of victory.
Interior view of Louvre and glass pyramid in Paris
According to map of Chinese guide, I found sculpture "Venus with a broken arm" for first time. She is dignified and beautiful, with a straight bridge of nose and plump skin; represents a spiral upward pose; her clothes had slipped down to her hips and her right arm was unfinished, fully showing off woman's curvaceous beauty. The guide said: "Because Venus is standard of ideal female body, beauty standards of all countries in world are based on size of each part of Venus's body. Is this true?"
Venus with a broken arm
Then I saw oil painting "Mona Lisa", which was created by famous Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci "Mysterious Smile". The guide said, "About 6 million people visit Mona Lisa oil painting every year. Fortunately, there are fewer tourists when I visit, so I can take a closer look. However, due to relatively small size of Mona Lisa oil painting, its height is only 77 cm .The width is 53cm, and clarity of the oil painting was not clear when I took pictures.
Oil painting "Mona Lisa"
Unfortunately, due to lack of time, I did not find third sculpture "Goddess of Victory", but I saw several other world-famous paintings, for example, oil painting "The Rape of Sabine Women". Rome: The Romans needed many women because of new city of Rome, so they invited Sabine women from neighboring countries to a feast. At same time, army quietly invaded city of Sabine and robbed many young and beautiful women. Since then, both sides have fueled hatred. To prevent their relatives from being sacrificed in war, Sabines rushed to battlefield with their children in their arms to stop fighting. There is also largest oil painting in Louvre's collection, The Wedding in Ghana, which depicts an extensive stage and a joyful and prosperous atmosphere when Christ and his disciples were invited to wedding feast in Ghana. book is bright. All of these oil paintings are original works and I was deeply shocked and inspired by their artistic charm.
Oil paintings "The Rape of Sabine Women" and "Ghanaian Wedding"
In Louvre, I saw a unique inverted pyramid with a spire pointing down to an underground passage that is not visible on ground because it is covered with vegetation. And there is another huge glass pyramid on ground. The tour guide said, "After glass pyramid is illuminated at night, reflection of night light and glass makes it shine. Every night you can enjoy this strange beauty in square. Louvre people.
Inverted Pyramid and Glass Pyramid of Louvre
In afternoon, we will visit French landmark "Eiffel Tower", built in January 1887 and located on Champ de Mars in Paris, next to Seine River. The Eiffel Tower has a hollow structure, with a total height of 324m and a weight of 10,000t. It can generate €1.5 billion in tourism revenue for Paris every year and was once tallest building in world. After dinner, guide took us to square in front of Eiffel Tower, where we can watch golden light of Eiffel Tower at 7 pm, which is a flickering effect created by countless light bulbs. The Eiffel Tower really lives up to its reputation!
Eiffel Tower, France
On third day we came to Notre Dame de Paris, built in 1163 and located in center of Paris, a Christian church in Gothic architectural style, across river from Louvre. The status and historical value of Notre Dame de Paris is unparalleled and it is known as one of most glorious buildings in history of world. Notre Dame de Paris was once written by French writer Victor Hugo as a novel of same name, and was later made into a film, cartoon and drama of same name, which made Notre Dame de Paris more famous and attracted more tourists.
Notre Dame Cathedral
Then we came to Montparnasse Tower, built in 1972. The building has 59 floors and a height of 209 meters. Such a tall building is indeed not tall in Wuhan, but it is tallest building in Paris, except for Eiffel Tower. Here you can take fastest elevator in Europe at that time, which in just 38 seconds will take you to a height of 209 meters above ground, and from top platform you can enjoy a panoramic view of magnificent beauty of Paris. The tour guide said: "When building was built, it received a lot of criticism because of design style, building materials and general landscape of Paris, but over time, people have gradually accepted it, and now it is most popular place in Paris for tourists from all over world. Welcome to one of hotspots! The fussy foreign tourists that I saw on platform of building are proof of this.
Paris Montparnasse Tower
The Place de la Concorde, located in center of Paris, was built in 1755 by King Louis XV to show world his supreme imperial power. During French Revolution, Republican army set up a guillotine in Place de la Concorde and executed King Louis XVI and many members of royal family. Place de la Concorde has an octagonal shape, and obelisk in center was presented to France by governor of Egypt. The obelisk is carved from a single piece of pink granite. There are 8 statues around square, which symbolize 8 major cities of France. . Standing on Place de la Concorde, you can see famous 1800 meters long Avenue Champs-Elysées, which crosses main road of Paris from east to west, along which all foreign presidents are escorted. The Champs Elysees is known as one of "three most prosperous avenues in world". The high-end commercial area on west side of street is home to world-famous clothing and perfume stores. It is extremely elegant and luxurious. and is also known as "the most beautiful avenue in world".
Place de la Concorde and Champs Elysees
At end of Champs-Elysees is "Arc de Triomphe", which is located in center of Place Charles de Gaulle. The Arc de Triomphe has a height of about 50 m and a width of 45 m. It is most majestic and majestic of more than 100 Arc de Triomphe in Europe. In addition, 12 avenues of Paris are centered around Arc de Triomphe and diverge around it. It also became a design model for European urban construction.
Arc de Triomphe
The Palace of Versailles, located in southwestern suburbs of Paris, served as palace of French king for 107 years from 1682 to 1789. The Palace of Versailles is amazing. Its main entrance is a small square surrounded on three sides. The central building is palace of King Louis XIII. The palace has more than 500 luxurious halls. The Hall of Mirrors is most famous hall of Palace of Versailles. , king often holds a grand masquerade here. Before going abroad, I heard about Hall of Mirrors, but was deeply shocked when I got there, I saw 17 huge French windows with gold borders on one side and over 400 mirrors on other side. The huge mirror, square hall is full of crystal clear crystal lamps, very rich! Extreme luxury! It seems that we are in a fantasy world. There are so many tourists in Hall of Mirrors that I couldn't even take a panoramic photo.
Facade of Palace of Versailles and Hall of Mirrors
There are so many valuable works of art in Verzhai Palace, such as jade carvings, huge oil paintings, woolen tapestries and exquisite furniture from all over world, that we don't see them at all, we can only look at them. flowers on horseback Rate this for style. However, I took a closer look at oil paintings of family portrait of King Louis XVI of France and oil paintings of Louis XIV and Louis XVI. Louis XIV is greatest monarch in history of France. He is only 154 cm tall. He felt that his status did not match his height, so he asked shoemaker to put a thick heel on his heel to make him appear taller. The guide said: At this time, high heels began to rise. Is this origin of high heels? I am skeptical.
Two oil paintings depicting French kings
Our guide is Yang Dao in Paris, France, a Chinese student with a very high level of French. When many important leaders of our country visit France, he explains everything to them.
Exterior view of Palace of Versailles and a complete guide to Paris
In afternoon, time for shopping. We went to "Paris Galeries Lafayette" and nearby "Paris Printemps Department Store". It has a strong Chinese flavor and most of vendors inside are Chinese and product labels are all in Chinese. We Chinese tourists are largest group of buyers it accepts. Shopping in it is similar to shopping at a local mall and supermarket. . These two department stores sell almost all most fashionable famous brands in world. The guide said: “Real French perfumes and French fashion are sold here, and they are cheaper than other places. But I'm not interested in these so-called "world famous brands", so I asked about assembly time and went to "Church of Holy Trinity" near Galeries Lafayette with a few male tourists who do not like shopping. was built in 1861-1867 during Second French Empire. Due to refurbishment of church, we couldn't get inside, so we returned shortly. The tour guide knew that some of us didn't like to shop. He said that world-famous "Paris Opera House" is only a few hundred meters from Galeries Lafayette, and you can go there.
Galeries Lafayette and Holy Trinity
The Paris Opera, also known as Opéra Garnier, was built in 1874. Its architectural style belongs to Baroque style. This is one of largest lyric theaters in world. All opera premieres were staged here. Since there are no performances in theater during day, I cannot go in to enjoy interior, but on steps in front of Paris Opera, I saw many young people performing impromptu orchestral numbers. professionally, and there are a lot of people watching. Some of us watched performances one after another with pleasure and free of charge and “mixed up” time of shopping. The tour guide said: "There are performances almost every day outside theater. Watching young people perform here is one of most enjoyable activities for Parisians.
Paris Opera
April 3rd was our last day in France. After driving over 320 kilometers in a tourist car, we arrived in Besançon, a city in eastern France near Swiss border, in afternoon. Besançon is capital of Doubs in Franz-Comté region of France, with a population of about 120,000 and an important watchmaking city. Besançon is also birthplace of great French writer Victor Hugo. The government built a museum of Hugo's former residence in city centre. Hugo has mentioned Besançon many times in his novels, screenplays and other writings. It can be seen that rain Fruits of love for his hometown. In addition, many plots of novel by famous French writer Stendhal "Red and Black" take place in Besançon.
View of Besançon
In Besancon, half a day of free time, dinner is also at your own expense. We walked along streets of Besancon. The streets are dotted with ancient buildings and ruins with a thousand-year history, as if walking in historical environment of European Middle Ages. I also saw two monuments with statues of people on street. I don’t understand French engraved on monuments. I don’t know two celebrities. The second statue looks like Hugo from head of statue. Let’s leave photo with them as a keepsake. (Can anyone tell me who they are?)
Two sculptural monuments in Besançon
Going out to middle of street, I saw a huge semi-circular stone gate, which was built in 175 AD. in honor of triumph of King Mark Oles, although they are over 1800 years old, they are still so majestic. After passing through stone gates of St. John's Cathedral. The huge church is empty. I have seen too many churches while traveling in Europe and I don't want to see them. If you continue moving forward, you can reach "Castle of Vaubon", built in era of Louis XIV in France in 1674. I didn't go there because I didn't get back in time, and I still regret it when I think about it now.
The stone gates of Besançon and Saint-Jean Cathedral
The beautiful and clean "River Dubert" flows into Besançon and turns a corner, forming a geographical environment in which city is surrounded by rivers on three sides and mountains on one side. By river Bo, this is also a unique landscape from afar!
Besançon bus and our hotel