Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Montmartre

Montmartre (French pronunciation: ​[mɔ̃.maʁtʁ]) is a large hill in Paris's 18th arrondissement. It is 130 metres high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank in the northern section of the city. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by rue Caulaincourtand rue Custine on the north; rue de Clignancourt on the east; boulevard de Clichy and boulevard de Rochechouart to the south.[1] containing sixty hectares.[2] Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district. The other, older, church on the hill is Saint Pierre de Montmartre, which claims to be the location at which theJesuit order of priests was founded.

Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Saint-Germain-des-Prés (French pronunciation: ​[sɛ̃ ʒɛʁmɛ̃ de pʁe]) is one of the four administrative quarters of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its official borders are the River Seine on the north, the rue des Saints-Pèreson the west, between the rue de Seine and rue Mazarine on the east, and the rue du Four on the south. Residents of the quarter are known asGermanopratins.[1]
The quarter has several famous cafés, including Les Deux MagotsCafé de Florele Procope, and the Brasserie Lipp, and a large number of bookstores and publishing houses. In the 1940s and 1950s, it was the centre of theexistentialist movement (associated with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. It is also home to the École des Beaux-Arts, the famed school of fine arts, and the Musée national Eugène Delacroix, in the former apartment and studio of painter Eugène Delacroix.

Latin Quarter, Paris

The Latin Quarter of Paris (FrenchQuartier latinIPA: [kaʁtje latɛ̃]) is an area in the5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne.
Known for its student life, lively atmosphere and bistros, the Latin Quarter is the home to a number of higher education establishments besides the university itself, such as the Lang–Martinez Psychiatric Hospital, the École des Mines de ParisPanthéon-Assas University, the Schola Cantorum, and the Jussieu university campus. Other establishments such as the École Polytechnique have relocated in recent times to more spacious settings.
The area gets its name from the Latin language, which was once widely spoken in and around the University since Latin was the language of learning in the Middle Ages in Europe.

Catacombs of Paris

The Catacombs of Paris (French: Catacombes de ParisAbout this sound  ) are underground ossuaries in ParisFrance which hold the remains of about six million people[1] in a small part of the ancient Mines of Paris tunnel network. Located south of the former city gate "Barrière d’Enfer" beneath Rue de la Tombe-Issoire, the ossuary was founded when city officials were faced with two simultaneous problems: a series of cave-ins starting in 1774 and overflowing cemeteries, particularly Saint Innocents. Nightly processions of bones from 1786 to 1788 transferred remains from cemeteries to the reinforced tunnels, and more remains were added in later years. The underground cemetery became a tourist attraction on a small scale from the early 19th century, and has been open to the public on a regular basis since 1874 with surface access from a building at Place Denfert-Rochereau.

Place de la Concorde

The place was designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel in 1755 as a moat-skirtedoctagon between the Champs-Élysées to the west and the Tuileries Garden to the east. Decorated with statues and fountains, the area was named Place Louis XV to honor the king at that time. The square showcased an equestrian statue of the king, which had been commissioned in 1748 by the city of Paris, sculpted mostly by Edmé Bouchardon, and completed by Jean-Baptiste Pigalleafter the death of Bouchardon.

Disneyland Paris

Disneyland Paris, originally Euro Disney Resort, is an entertainment resort inMarne-la-Vallée, a new town located 32 km (20 mi) east of the centre of Paris, and is the most visited theme park in all of France and Europe.[1] It is owned and operated by Euro Disney S.C.A., a publicly traded company in which The Walt Disney Company owns a majority stake.[2] The resort covers 4,800 acres (19 km2)[3] and encompasses two theme parks, several resort hotels, a shopping, dining, and entertainment complex, and a golf course, in addition to several additional recreational and entertainment venues. Disneyland Park is the original theme park of the complex, opening with the resort on 12 April 1992. A second theme park, Walt Disney Studios Park, opened in 2002. The resort is the second Disney park to open outside the United States, following the opening of the Tokyo Disney Resort in 1983.

Hotel de Ville

In July 1357, Étienne Marcelprovost of the merchants (i.e. mayor) of Paris, bought the so-called maison aux piliers ("House of Pillars") in the name of the municipality on the gently sloping shingle beach which served as a river port for unloading wheat and wood and later merged into a square, the Place de Grève(French for "Square of the Strand"), a place where Parisians often gathered, particularly for public executions. Ever since 1357, the City of Paris's administration has been located on the same location where the Hôtel de Ville stands today. Before 1357, the city administration was located in the so-calledparloir aux bourgeois ("Parlour of Burgesses") near the Châtelet.