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...

Hôtel de Ville Paris at 4th Arrondissement

Where is 4th arrondissement?

I did not have any intention to have any transaction at the municipality of Paris, commonly known as Hôtel de Ville but I was already at its vicinity by around 09:30 on a Thursday morning. This is still part of the earlier walk around the city of Paris, from one arrondissement to another.  The building itself is attractive. Architechts Théodore Ballu and Edouard Deperthes rebuilt this lovely-looking edifice, the Hotel de Ville “from the outside” (Wikipedia, 2011). These two talented architects rebuilt the building as an imitation of the 16^th century French Renaissance that stood before 1871. The the new interior however was based on an entirely new design, with ceremonial rooms lavishly decorated in the 1880s style (Wikipedia, 2011)

yours truly in front of Hôtel de Ville at around 09:30 AM, Thursday, 14 April 2011

"Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité", the national motto of the country (France) is clearly indicated in the lovely facade design of Hôtel de Ville architecture and sculptural designs

This is the view across the Hotel de Ville

Photo Source: Wikipedia         Hôtel de Ville Paris breathtaking night aura...

The Hotel de Ville is the administrative office of Paris City local government lead by its mayor starting 1357 and can be accessed from the Metro station named after this building, the Metro(politan) station “Hôtel de Ville”.

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...