Promenade or Stroll Along the Seine River in Paris

It was nice weather and walking along the Seine River was not a bad experience. It was also a good way to look around the city in slow motion, see the crusing ships passing and try to guess along which part the Princess of Wales,Lady Diana really died. It was fun! Actually, we were from the Notre Dame du Paris treading our way to reach the Musée del'Armée. I don't remember exactly the route we took but being new to the city, everything I saw was interesting. Below are someof the selected views while strolling along the River Seine in Paris.

Before that, some trivia first. I learned that the name "Seine" (la sen), which is the name of the river came from the Latin word "Seuana" which construed to mean "sacred river". Many contested this origin of the river's name though. River Seine expands itself to 776 kilometers or 486 miles, yes, that's thelenthsof the Seine River in Paris.  Within Paris, there are 37 rivers and a dozen or so outside the capital.

The other side is packed with those heavy-set buildings...

Whose head is this? It's sculpted in one of the many bridges of Seine and we were thinking it's Bacchus' 

head but I cannot confirm it. Anybody who knows whose head is this in a bridge of Seine, please

let us know as well. Thanks in advance. And why is it there? Very interesting...

Alittle graffiti behind... I think it says, "Wild"...

If you look closely, aside from he scenery behind, the bridge has letter "N" in it. Does it mean "Napolean" or something? Any idea? The bridge scultures are actually puzzling me all the time!

Here you see the letter "N" emphasized. Who has the idea what does this letter N means in oneof the 

bridges of river Seine? Please impart your knowledge and educate the world... :=) Thank you...

Resting a bit.... whew... Pont Neuf now...

Notre Dame de Paris Experience

After admiring the Hôtel de Ville, we continued our walk to the Notre Dame de Paris or the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris. If translated in English, Notre (Our) Dame (Lady) of Paris. Still, it is in the 4^th arrondissement so just nearby the Hotel de Ville. The Notre Dame Cathedral houses the Archbishop of Paris.

What attracted me, physically, inside the church are its stained glasses. They are magnificent! I took photos of some of them. The Notre Dame de Paris or the Notre Dame Cathedral is also widely considered one of the “finest examples of French Gothic architecture” (Wikipedia 2011) in the country (France) and also the rest of the continent (Europe), naturally aside from the awesome stained glasses I previously mentioned.

This is from the right side of the Cathedral's entrance. Look around up and see the design...

Since this group of policement on horses were passing as I crossed the street to the Cathedral, I just have them posted here... :)

The iron works behind me and the sculptures are admirable...

WIth my fave...Joan of Arc... the quality is really bad but I did not want to use flash inside the Cathedral (respect)...

Bass relief (?) depicting Christ's sufferings...

Notre Dame de Paris in one glass... this is the miniature version inside the glass...

Also the miniature version of the labor force that made this church, Notre Dame de Paris successfully erected...

Below are a few samples of the many beautifully crafted stained glass inside the Cathedral. Beautiful work...

Around Paris Early Morning Attractions: No tickets needed!

By 7:15 AM, we have secured our luggage at the Gare du Nord Paris Automatic Locker Service (Consignes Automatiques). We decided to walk around the vicinity just to see how it is, how the locals live and to see the generality of the place. Also, to see the views around that do not require entrance fees as it was too early for anything to be open. Some of the interesting views are shown below or in the next post, and some are to be shown in the succeeding posts..
The Church of Saint-Laurent or locally called l’ Église Saint-Laurent is a church in the 10th arrondissement of Paris as previously laid out by the Romans in the course of the mid 1st century BC. The church has a lovely façade.

L'Eglise Saint-Laurent, at 10th arrondissement

The Porte Saint-Denis (or others name and call it Ludovico Magno Arc because of its label) is a monument located in the10th arrondissement of Paris at the site of one of the gates of the Wall of Charles the Fifth, one of the now-destroyed fortifications of the city (Paris). The arc can be found at the crossing of Rue Saint-Denis and extends to Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, with the Boulevard de Bonne-Nouvelle and the Boulevard Saint-Denis. Porte Saint-Denis or commonly known as Ludovico Magno Arc replaced a medieval gate in the city walls built by Charles the Fifth in the 14th century. 

(Ludovico Magno Arc) La Port Saint-Denis 
at  the10th arrondissement

The National Centre for Art and Culture Georges Pompidou is born out of the desire of President Georges Pompidou in the heart of Paris to create an original cultural institution devoted entirely to modern and contemporary art where the side is with theater, music, movies, books, activities of speech, etc.

Centre Pompidou brings together in one place one of the largest museums in the world with the first collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe, a large library of public libraries with general documentation on the art of the twentieth century, movie theaters and shows, a music research institute, educational activity areas, bookshops, a restaurant and a cafe.

One thing that attracted me within this museum is the Brancusi Atelier as the name itself, "Brancusi Atelier" appeares at the label of the museum in the entrance area. I later learned about Constantin Brancusi. Brancusi was born in Romania in 1876, where he received traditional training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Bucharest. He arrived in Paris in 1904 and occupied from 1916 workshops located at 8 and then successively, from 1928, to 11 Ronsin, the deadlock in the fifteenth arrondissement of Pris. It is in these workshops he created until his death in 1957 most of his work.

In 1956, Brancusi bequeathed to the French state all of his studio with all its contents (finished works, sketches, furniture, tools, library, disco ...) subject to the National Museum of Modern Art is committed to reconstitute it as it will appear the day of his death.

Too early to buy a ticket and enter so we moved on...

Some nearby park, still at the 10th arrondisement

An old church along the way...

The expensive Parisian apartments...

The Hague (Central Station) to Paris (Galieni) Eurolines Trip: Waiting for the Bus at the Hague CS

It's the trip starting at night: at 22:45 or 10:45PM from The Hague (Centraal Station) to Paris (Galieni Parc de Bagnolet bus station). Tre trip was estimated to last for about 7 hours including all pick-up stops and pause stops along the way. The ticket for this one-way trip costed only Eur 39 but including insurance and other fees, the total is Eur 47... stillnot bad. This post will lay out what one can expect during the waiting period and the next post will be about the trip itself and it might be helpful, especially for this eurolines trip experience from The Hague to Paris. The bus passing The Hague, I assume, started from Amsterdam and thus, the same information in the succeeding post(s) apply for those passengers.You will see the following numbered points.

1. Since this was a night travel, the check-in desk wasalready closed. The ticket itself (no boarding pass)was enough for the driver. Make sure that you printed the page of eticket (not the receipt page) for presentation. Sample is shown below.

2. Where to wait? The stop for eurolines busses is not in theplace where thelocal busses stop. It is behind the eurolines office, and when you wait you can see the bike shed of the central station (CS). The stop is not labelled so be careful. See some of the pointsof view when one is waiting for the eurolines bus.

The CS bike shed

Really near this trash can

Not the eurolines bus, just wait for eurlolines bus... there might be a bus parked in the waiting area

There is also a waiting area with chairs and tables if you would like to stay 
there, especially if you wish to eat and/or sit/rest

 3. At around 22:05 or at 10:05 PM, a eurolines bus bound for Amsterdam passed by. It was NOT thebus for Paris, just wait for the bus. It will aeeive just around "on time" although passengers are advised to be present 30 minutes before the trip.

4. The bus arrived at 22:35 or 10:35PM and we were around 15 passengers who hopped on. The baggage packing, the arrangement and everything lasted for around 10 minutes. At 22:47 or 10:47 PM we departed. 2 minutes late, not bad at all!

Don't forget to give your ticket to the driver to prevent delays. You will know why in the next post.