Unposted and undated.
832 Paris
L'Île de la Cité
The island of the Cité
Der Insel der Cité
L'isola della Cité
The Île de la Cité, a natural island in the Seine, is often thought to be the cradle of Paris, the place where the Parisii tribe lived. It is the heart of Paris and all distances from Paris are measured from the square outside Notre-Dame.
The Pont Neuf (New Bridge), at the far end of the island and not visible on this card, is the oldest bridge in Paris, the earliest surviving one built of stone rather than wood.
Three buildings remain from the medieval period - the cathedral of Notre-Dame, started in 1163, the Sainte-Chapelle (1245) and the Conciergerie prison. The spire of Sainte-Chapelle can just about be seen rising behind the right hand tower of the cathedral. A great proportion of what can be seen these days is reconstruction after considerable damage during the French Revolution. The Conciergerie is on the opposite side of the island and further away.
Updated to include a rather more attractive view from the opposite direction.
I love Paris, though I have only a short acquaintance with it - a couple of weekend breaks and a couple of weeks work when my head was down most of the time. (Working on a proposal for the Paris office of international accountants to go to a client in Australia. It wasn't easy, but we did win in the end.)
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to more of your week. My favourite place in Paris is The Rodin Museum, especially the garden. Be great if you have one of that.
Sadly, no, I have nothing from the Rodin. I love Rodin so I can only assume that my memory of the museum having been undergoing renovations is correct. I can distinctly remember walking past.
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