France: Paris
Sacre Coeur Basillica
An interesting exception to the rest of Parisian architecture, the Sacre Coeur basillica with its Byzantine style.
Arc de Triomphe Panorama
On the left, Avenue Kleber runs in the direction of the Trocadero Square and Tour Eiffel. On the right, Avenue de la Grande Armee continues to the Avenue Charles de Gaulle towards the La Defense business district.
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Arc de Triomphe Panorama
La Defense on the left and Montmartre with Sacre Coeur on the right.
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Arc de Triomphe Panorama (VR)
Panorama of the Avenue de la Grande Armee, in front of Arc de Triomphe. And in the opposite direction, far along the street, its modern re-creation can be seen in the La Defense district.
Tour Eiffel Panorama
From the plateau in front of Palais de Challiot.
Tour Eiffel Platform 3 Panorama (VR)
Now this was a tough one to photograph and assemble, but it was worth the effort. 24 photographs that form this panorama were shot from 8 different spots through the fence of the highest platform of Eiffel Tower.
Tour Eiffel Panorama (VR)
The view of the Eiffel Tower from the Avenue de New York that is just in front of it.
Musee du Louvre, Cour Exterieure (VR)
Outer courtyard of the Louvre. The glass pyramid is actually a cover for the main entrance to the museum, which leads down underground. From there you can directly access three main wings of the museum, but experienced Louvre visitors avoid the main pyramid entrance as it is usually very crowded, and instead use a couple of less known small entrances that also exsist around the building. Once inside, you can access all parts of this really huge place.
Musee du Louvre, Cour Interieure (VR)
Inner courtyard of the Louvre. During my stay in France, I quickly got tired of the Paris-like large city noise and rumble, so Louvre was one of those places where I could disconnect from all that and satisfy some other senses. In total, I spent more than 10 hours in the museum (not in one single visit, of course), and that I may call enough to "informatively" see all of Louvre. To get into detail of all collections - now that would be outright crazy. Paintings and sculptures from Renaissance and Romanticism - that's quite enough for me.
Musee du Louvre vers la Champs d'Elysees Panorama
No photograps from inside Louvre? Sorry, but that's right. It is permitted to take a camera inside and terrorize everybody with a flash, but even though I had a camera that could very well shoot without it, I just wanted to enjoy this great museum fully. Sorry.
Sacre Coeur Panorama 1
Eiffel Tower is the best viewpoint for Paris, but this one is much more dear to me. To the left of basillica's main entrance is a passage leading to an old narrow staircase that spirals up all the way to the circular gallery under the main cupole. From there, a scheme of smaller staircases and passages leads you all over the roof of the building, exposing nice views to all sides of Paris.
Sacre Coeur Panorama 2
Although for me this is the second best viewpoint for Paris, this place wasn't crowded at all for the two times that had I visited it. Here you can admire the view in a unique ambient of masterfull stonework around. On the end of the trail is another staircase, same as the one that you used to climb up.
Place de l'Opera Panorama (VR)
A nice place to see the positive effects of Haussmannian Renovations of Paris, conducted under the rule of Napoleon III of France. These renovations were highly criticised in their own time, but today the benefit is undoubtful. The narrow, irregular Medival style streets were reorganized into wide and straight boulevards that now form the basis of efficient traffic in a large modern city.
Paris Opera
This is a side view of the famous opera house building. In Musee d'Orsay you can see an interesting miniature model of the building's cross section with quite astonishing detail.
Palais de la Conciergerie
This old building complex was once a royal palace, and it was later converted into a prison in 14th century. During the times of the French Revolution, it had a nickname "antechamber to the guillotine".
Hotel de Ville
This is a French name for the city administration building.
Montmartre Rue des Martyrs Panorama (VR)
This is a typical ambient of narrow Montmartre streets. This once bohemian part of the city has lost much of its old style due to tourism and modernisation, but it still feels unique.
Montmartre Rue du Mont Cenis (VR)
This is the street that runs from Place du Tertre and ends here with this staircase. Wonder what it looked like some 100 years ago.
La Defense Business District (VR)
This was a challenge to photograph without the panoramic head and tripod. I may gess what the people passing by were thinking while watching me in a clumsy pose holding on to the sidewalk railing and shooting something weird up in the sky.