Famous Places in Paris

The Louvre, once France's largest royal palace, is now the world's largest museum with the world's most important collection of art and antiquities. It is an important vacation spot. 8 million people a year enter these galleries, making it by far the world's most-visited art museum. The entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris is through a glass pyramid in the central courtyard. The collection at the Louvre includes Greek Antiquities from as early as 5th century BC, and works of art all the way to the 19th century. The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is a particular favorite of visitors. The Egyptian collection of sphinx, mummies and statues of pharaohs is said to be the best outside of Cairo. The statue of Hermaphrodite Sleeping comes from Rome, sculpted in marble in the 2nd century AD. Dutch painters like Rembrandt and Vermeer and Frans Hals, Italian painters and sculptors like Donatello, Michelangelo and Da Vinci, French painters like Watteau, de la Tour and Fragonard are represented with exceptional examples of their works.

Famous Places in Paris
Famous Places in Paris
Famous Places in ParisTo see this vacation spot, make the half-hour trip by train to the Palace of Versailles, and let a guide take you through the opulent rooms of Louis XIV, the Sun King who lived like a god. Versailles set the standard for lifestyles of the rich and famous that no one has surpassed. The rambling main palace, called the Chateau is a famous place, with the King's and Queen's apartments, Royal Chapel, Hall of Sculpture and the illustrious Hall of Mirrors. Watch fountain spectacles in the formal gardens. and visit the smaller palaces on the grounds. Walk in the footsteps of Marie Antoinette who, when told the hungry peasants had no bread, reportedly said "Let them eat cake."
Famous Places in Paris
Famous Places in Paris
Famous Places in Paris
Famous Places in ParisOur next vacation spot in Paris, The Orsay Museum is, for some visitors, even better than the Louvre. The delicious collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters from the period between 1848 and 1914 will reward your visit. I'll just drop a few names to whet your appetite. The Musee d'Orsay gives you Van Gogh, Matisse, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, plus Delacroix, the Symbolists Gustav Klimt, Edward Munch and James Whistler, and a host of other famous names, all under one roof. The controversial paintings by Edouard Manet of Le Dejeuner Sur l'Herbe, Picnic on the Grass, and Olympia, a naked courtesan, scandalized Paris in 1860s. Claude Monet's painting of Blue Water Lilies established one of this favorite themes. There's Toulouse-Latrec's painting Jane Avril Dancing. You'll recognize the best known paintings by Renoir, including Dancing at the Moulin de La Galette. There's La Bella Angele by Paul Gauguin. And so on.