Europe through the D90

One of our second day in Paris is the Jardin de Luxembourg. From the Trocadero metro we took the subway to the Jardin de Luxembourg. The garden was to complement the Palais de Luxembourg, built by Marie de Medicis with a design to imitate the Petti Palace in her native Florence. Wife of Henry IV, Marie de Medicis was from a wealthy and powerful Florentine de Medici dynasty in Tuscany.
The gardin today is a favorite relaxing place for Parisians. I think there is more dirt than grass, and if you like sand blowing into your face than this is the place. Otherwise, there's a central basin of water surrounded by Statues of former French queens and famous women, including that of Marie de Medici (above).Palais de Luxembourg. The statue in front, the roman hunter and a deer, is a copy, like many statues nowadays, with the original in the Lourve, Paris.

Our first visit is the most recognized structure in the world and the most visited paid monument in the world.

Guilded bronze statues adorns the Palais de Chaillot, which houses 4 museums and a theater, Theatre National de Chaillot. Interestingly, most don't notice the arc buildings, for obvious reasons.

It was mom's first time, and we covered more ground than she would like. Our first stop, Paris... where mom's first sight, as if it will disappear by David Copperfield soon, is the Eiffel Tower. The inner highest quality wrought iron design of the tower is by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, who also designed the Statue of Liberty in New York. It is the tallest building in Paris. The tower was one of many entries into a competition for an entrance arc to the 1889 world's fair. About 18,000 pieces of wrought iron weighing about 10,000 tons made up the tower.

Sacre-Coeur Basilica.

and of course we visited Sacre-Coeur Basilica, which sits on Montmartre, the highest land base point in Paris, and if you go up to the Dome of the Basilica you would be on the second highest point in Paris, after the Eiffel Tower. The church was dedicated to the Sacre heart (coeur) of Jesus. It was the site of the beheading of bishop St. Denis in the 3rd century, the head of which was carried to what is now the suburb of Saint-Denis. Two bronze statues in front of the basilica are Joan of Arc (above and left side of basilica) and King Saint Louis IX. The basilica is built of Chateau-Landon stone that bleaches to white with age.