The next day brought us to the Île de la Cité, the Island of the City. Another island in the middle of the Seine. It is the centre of the Paris, birthplace of the city and home of Notre Dame. But here we first have the chapel Sainte-Chapelle and the Palais de Justice.


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Near the Louvre there's an underground shopping mall called Carrousel du Louvre where you can find the Inverted Pyramid. It was made popular by Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code".

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After the château we visited the Gardens of Versailles. Access to the gardens is free. Except on specific days (mostly on the weekend) when the Musical Fountains Show, the "Grandes Eaux", takes place. This is when you can see all the fountains "in action". You can see see some pictures on wikimediaWhile we didn't see the fountains show, we saw a ( Read more... )

The next morning we took the train for a thirty minute ride to Versailles which is located about 20 kilometres west of Paris.

The main gate of the Château of Versailles complex. The first building phase took place in the second half of the 17th century. But numerous expansions and rebuilding phases took place in the following 100 years until that ( Read more... )

It's been only three months since I visited Paris with a friend, but much has happened since. A series of terror attacks shook the city, having the intended devastating effects of the terrorists. Killing dozens of people in France. And many states, as usual, using the opportunity to increase the surveillance of their people and curtailing civil ( Read more... )

My train home was scheduled to depart only around noon, so I had a bit of time left in the morning to visit a final location in the north-west. It was partially cloudy which gave some of the previously photographed skyscrapers a different look. The Torre Diamante.


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After reaching the most southwestern point of our walk through Milan we head back north to the Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio. It is said that it housed the tombs of the Three Magi, the Three Kings. Their human remains were moved over time, but part of their bones and garments have returned. In memory of the Three Kings there's a star instead of a ( Read more... )

Entering the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, one of the world's oldest shopping malls. Named after the first king of the Kingdom of Italy.

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The main reason to visit Milan as a tourist, Milan Cathedral, one of the largest cathedrals in the world.

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We start our extensive tour of Milan in the north of the city, at the Piazza Duca D’Aosta, one of the main squares of Milan. Here you can find the iconic Pirelli Tower. It's about 125 metres high and because it was already completed in 1958 it is one of the city's landmarks.


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