AROUND PARIS - APRIL 1979

STROLLING OUTSIDE CENTRAL PARIS



"ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE - The present palace dates from the 16th and 17th centuries, although a royal one had existed here since the 12th century. Louis XIV was born here, and it was here that his father, Louis XIII, died. Until 1682, when the court moved to Versailles, it remained the country's foremost royal residence outside of Paris. It seems that it was here that the exiled English king James II spent his last years"


"ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE - Preparing for the journey"


"VERSAILLES - In 1668, King Louis XIV decided to build a new palace outside Paris. The goal was to be farther away from the rebellious people in Paris, to be closer to the hunting forests west of Paris and to materialize his new absolute power as king of France. The largest in Europe, the palace housed 20 000 nobles and was the center of the French monarchy until the 1789 revolution"


"PÈRE LACHAISE - The Cimetière du Père-Lachaise is the largest cemetery in Paris, and one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. Located in the 20th arrondissement, Père-Lachaise is reputed to be the most visited cemetery in the world, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors a year to the graves of the those who have enhanced French life over the past 200 years. The name of the cemetery comes from Père François de la Chaise (1624-1709), who was the confessor of Louis XIV"


"LE MUR DES FÉDÉRÉS - The Communards'Wall. This is the wall against which 147 Communards, the leaders of the Paris Commune, were shot on May 28, 1871 after the fall of the Commune"


"PÈRE LACHAISE is also the location of five Great War memorials, including the one for Sachsenhausen. There are several sites on the cemetery, but the Virtual Tour is really incredible!"


"SACRÉ-COEUR - Sacré Coeur is a modern church at the top of the Montmartre hill started in 1870 and completed in 1914. It is best known for its white pastry like domes which grace the Paris skyline"


"PLACE DU TERTRE - Montmartre was a little village on the outskirts of Paris until it was discovered by artists in the nineteenth century. Many famous painters lived and worked here - Van Gogh, Lautrec, Seurat, Monet - where they enjoyed the quality of light, out of the smoke, grime and noise. The Place du Tertre is still the haunt of artists, who provide the tourist market with souvenirs. It is also reputed to be the place in Paris where you are most likely to have your pocket picked..."



"THE CITÉ UNIVERSITAIRE - This «city» was begun in 1920, and the central «home» consists of seven buildings. The main rule is that everybody has to be a registered student at the University of Paris. About five to 6,000 students from over 100 countries are in residence from the beginning of October until the end of June"


"LA DEFENSE - The name derives from the monument «la Défense de Paris», erected in 1883 to commemorate the 1870 war. In 1951 the site was chosen as a modern office center, but the height of the towers (particularly the GAN - 200m), caused a public outcry. It's unique since the whole concrete slab on which the mini city is built is a car-free zone: roads, parking and subway links are all underground. The main axis of La Défense lines up with the Pyramid in the Louvre, the Obelisk at Concorde, and the Arc de Triomphe at Etoile. The Grande Arche was built at La Defense's western end"

ALWAYS PARIS - APRIL 1979

BACK TO THE CITY OF LIGHTS - IN CIRCLE STARTING FROM EAST



"PLACE DES VOSGES - Paris' oldest square - constructed under Henri IV from 1605 - 1612 - consists of 39 houses, each made of red brick. Several of its houses have their own history, and among these are number 1 bis, where Mme de Sevigné was born; number 6, the Victor Hugo museum; number 17, former residence of Bossuet; and number 21, where Richelieu lived from 1615 - 1627"


"NOTRE DAME - My favourite viewpoint to the Cathedral"


"NOTRE DAME - Another interesting view to the back of the Cathedral, from Ile St. Louis"


"NOTRE DAME - A gothic masterpiece, was preceeded by a Gallo-Roman temple to Jupiter, a Christian basilica, and a Romanesque church. Conceived by Maurice de Sully, its construction began in 1163 and was finished in 1345. Road distances in France are calculated on the basis of the "0 km" marked on the square in front of the cathedral"



"BEAUBOURG - The National Centre of Art and Culture was an idea of President Georges Pompidou who wanted to create in the heart of Paris an institution dedicated to modern and contemporary creation. It is housed in a fabulous building designed by Renzo Piano, and first opened its doors in 1977, to receive around 6 million visitors each year"


"CENTRE POMPIDOU - The views from the top of the building are great"


"SUNSET - but the sunset from the right bank of the Seine towards the Eiffel Tower is also interesting, notwithstanding the rain..."


"CHATELET - The square owes its name to an ancient fortress, the Grand Châtelet. The column, dating from 1808, was erected in remembrance of Napoleon I's victories, and actually is not being taken away by the truck!"


"CONCIERGERIE - Built by Philippe the Fair (1284-1314) to lodge the Concierge of the Palace, responsible for the collection of rents, rapidly turned into prison, which could contain more than 1000 people. Among its more famous prisoners were Marie Antoinette, Charlotte Corday, and Danton"


"SAMARITAINE - View from the top, when it was still open"


"TUILLERIES - The garden was started by Catherine de Medicis, but its present layout (1664) is attributable to Andre le Nôtre; it was made on the site of a tile-works on the banks of the River Seine, and is now on the main axis of Paris"


"CHAMPS-ELYSÉES - «La plus belle avenue du monde»"


"EIFFEL TOWER - Views from the top"


"MONTPARNASSE - Rue de Rennes, home to the first FNAC, a surprisingly culture supermarket"


"JARDIN DES PLANTES - The main botanical garden in France is situated on the left bank of the river Seine, and covers 280,000 m². It opened to the public in 1650"

BUDAPEST AND SUBURBS - JULY 1978

TOURING THE COUNTRY AND FAREWELL TO BUDAPEST

ESZTERGOM


"DANUBE - On the other margin it used to be Tchecoslovakia"


"THE BASILICA - The monumental Basilica, built between 1822 and 1869, is the largest church of the country. In the sacrarium one can admire Grigoletti's altarpiece, titled «Maria's ascension», which is the largest painting on a single canvas (136,5 m) of the whole world"


"ESZTERGOM and OBUDA's ROMAN RUINS - Esztergom was the first capital city and birthplace of the first King of Hungary: Saint Stephen"

SZENTENDRE


"SZENTENDRE - 19 kilometres away from Budapest, Szentendre was originally settled by Serb refugees and still retains a South Slav air (Orthodox churches, Cyrillic-inscribed monuments and Mediterranean townscape). Natural disasters lead the Serb population to abandon the city in the 19th century, but the town's Baroque appearance was preserved intact. Artists rediscovered the village in the 1920s and turned it into an art colony"

BUDAPEST



"THE CITY PARK in Pest is the largest green space. The Museums of Fine Arts, the Palace of Arts, the Millenary Monument and Vajdahunyad Castle were all constructed in the area in 1896 for the World Exhibition to mark the thousandth anniversary of the arrival of the Magyars in the Carpathian Basin. In summer there is pleasant rowing on the small lake; in winter ice skating"


"VAJDAHUNYAD CASTLE, designed by Ignác Alpár and built between 1896 and 1908, originally of timber and cardboard, is the most fascinating edifice in the City Park. It shows in one building only the different styles of Hungarian architecture. It houses today the Hungarian Agricultural Museum"



"VAJDAHUNYAD CASTLE - it has romanesque and baroque wings, and some parts - the wing facing the lake - were inspired by the Transylvanian Castle of Vajdahunyad, from where it got its name"


"CITY PARK - an area of marshland which served as a royal hunting ground, was changed into a huge English-style park. Visitors also find here the Széchenyi Baths, the Zoo, the Circus, the Fun Fair, the Transport Museum, and the Petőfi Hall"


"SZECHENYI BATHS is one of the biggest bathing complexes in Europe, and the largest in Budapest. Its thermal spring – the hottest and deepest in the city – was discovered in 1879. The neo-baroque building dates from 1913. The water is so warm that the outdoor pools are popular with bathers even in winter time"


"CITADEL HILL - Nice views towards Buda Castle and Pest"


"FAREWELL DINNER at the Citadell, with a magyar orchestra"


"GOODBYE BUDAPEST, and Magdolna"

BUDAPEST - JULY 1978

ANOTHER UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE

A BEAUTIFUL CITY IN THE BANKS OF THE DANUBE


"ON A MISTY DAY - View from the Citadel: the tourists, the Castle, the River and the Parliament"


"FROM BUDA WITH LOVE - The Danube, Margaret Island, Margaret and the Parliament"


"DANUBE, and the Chain Bridge"


"CLOSE-UP, Parliament, Danube, Chain Bridge"


"BUDA - A look out at the panoramic view of the whole city from the Fishermen’s Bastion is an absolute must! In the Castle District there are 3 churches, 6 museums, and many interesting buildings. The former Royal Palace, the Sándor Palace (official residence of the President of Hungary), the 700 year-old Matthias Church and the Fishermen’s Bastion are around the corner"


"CASTLE DISTRICT - Fountain"


"HEROES' SQUARE - dominated by the Millenary Monument, with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front. To the sides are the Museum of Fine Arts and the Palace of Arts, and behind City Park"


"PARLIAMENT - Outside is magnificent, inside you have the Hungarian Crown Jewels"


"PARLIAMENT - It looks fabulous seen from the Danube: Ladies' Tea Party""


"PARLIAMENT - You won't get tired of looking at such a building"


"MARGARET ISLAND - Budapest's finest green spot is located in the middle of the river Danube between Margaret Bridge and Árpád Bridge. Originally there were three islands - Spa, Pictor and Rabbits. These were framed with a common concrete shore as part of river regulation efforts in the 19th century and so the 2.5-kilometre-long island was formed"



"CHAIN BRIDGE - In 1873, after the building of the first permanent bridge over the Danube, occurred the legislative unification of Buda, Pest and Óbuda into one city: BUDAPEST"