France

Nice is a nice warm place with a castle, lots of pebble beaches and some restaurants and markets.

Between Barcelona and Nice we slept in Montpellier, hoping to have an evening there and leave the following afternoon. However the train station had no left luggage, so we had to go straight to the hotel, which was said to be 10 min away by tram. It was actually triple that distance, then across a highway, and the transit system was on strike so trams stopped at 8pm, so we didn't go back out. Because of the distance to the hotel, we went straight to the train station the next morning rather than leave our bags (and our bags were too big to take with us). All this to say, we didn't see Montpellier in our day there.

It was vaguely annoying that when I spoke to people in French in France they tended to answer me in English; it was only after about 5 days in the country that I broke down and started using a fake French accent. I was concerned that it was because I've lost my language, so I took comfort in overhearing other people from Quebec complaining about the same thing.

Fontaine St Michel, where an angel is triumphing over Lucifer (who is then banished and will eternally rule over hell, rather than heaven as he was plotting)

A bridge that is centuries old. When it was completed the king had a big party, had his sketch artist sketch the guests, and to immortalize them and the best party ever he had their images carved to adorn the bridge.

At the Louvre by day

That evening we went to the theatre, with cut-rate seats to see Moliere's L'Avare at La Comedie Francaise. It's a good play, but we could only see about half the stage and only half of us could understand the language. Here was our view.

Louvre by night

Arc de Triomphe

View from the Arc de Triomphe

We spent our last day at churches:
Sacre-Coeur

Notre-Dame

很多人说巴黎是浪漫的。我不赞同，因为用这么一个抽象的词来形容这么一个古老悠久的城市似乎是太简单化了。巴黎更像是一个带了无数面具的戏子，每一次转身都会把她不同的一面展现给你。
她华贵；她傲慢；她精致，她含蓄；她神秘；她超然；她才华横溢；她墨守成规……
巨型雕塑喷水池。


塞纳河上（Seine River）
石桥建于几百年前。桥上布满了人脸的雕像。不知道当时人的审美观是怎样的，要在他们中找到几张帅哥脸还真不是一件容易的事情。



久负盛名的卢浮宫-象我们这样的艺术盲，就是进去了也不过是走马观花看热闹而已。所以只在外面看看门道就不虚此行了！



由于达芬奇密码而驰名于世的卢浮宫外的金字塔。看过以后只能说-很失望，很失望。不得不说这是巴黎作为艺术之都的极大的败笔！


夜晚的金字塔和卢浮宫 –还是晚上看比较顺眼 。








在卢浮宫外走了一圈，我们有一个很有趣的发现。卢浮宫和金字塔并不围绕一条中心线左右对称。谁能告诉我这到底是设计败笔还是别有用心呢？

中央公园-雕塑很美，喷泉也很美，就是沙石地让人觉得档次低了点。



从埃及偷来的大理石的柱子。被拿破仑从各地偷来的巨型艺术品分布于全市的角角落落。大概法国人除了拿破仑时期以外几乎屡战屡败的历史不得不让他们更加炫耀其强盛时期的战利品。

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久负盛名的香舍利大街 – 我并不稀罕她星罗棋布的名牌店，他们不过是一些被加了华丽包装的服务于虚荣一族的贵族玩具；香舍利大街的美于我看来是在于它两旁错落有致的参天大树。他们的纹理中写着这个城市的沧桑，记录着历史的轮回。茂盛的树荫仿佛能净化人的心灵。在喧嚣的城市里，这一片绿荫能够让人在沉静中找回自我。

一些零星的城市建筑







冒牌的凯旋门

夜光下的凯旋门




从地下往上看

两旁的柱子

正中



从凯旋门顶楼往下望，整个巴黎尽收眼底。


远处的埃菲尔铁塔

佛赛宫 – 如果要评选最适合人居的宫殿，法国的佛赛宫绝对胜于故宫。故宫讲的是庄严和排场，佛赛讲的则是奢华和享受。远离政治的烦恼，要的就是那份潇洒。难怪中国的皇帝都是千遍一律的苦果脸。看这个洋皇帝意气奋发地的样子！







室内的壁画是宫殿的精髓












皇后及其他女眷的寝宫







皇子公主们的画室

音乐室

这位小公主美貌吧！哈哈，猜错了！他是位小王子，也就是后来的路易 XX.

皇宫的后花园-可以赏花，避暑，骑马，射箭，划船，游泳，真是多功能的游乐场。













错落有致的树丛和花丛是我的最爱




整个宫殿中最让我倒胃口的便是莫名其妙的现代意识的侵略。莫名其妙，说的就是你！



皇宫附近的农场。



艺术家中心蒙马的教堂


没有了阿西莫多的巴黎圣母院.不管从哪个角度去观望它，都别有风韵。









五光十色的琉璃窗 – 让阳光洒进圣洁的教堂。





不管我是如何坚定的无神论者，不管因为宗教给人类历史带来多少无谓的厮杀，在游历了4个大洲之后我不得不承认，因为有了宗教，才有了如今世界上最最伟大的建筑。