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Questionnaire
1-
In class video: Europe: A Modern
Profile FRANCE (in lab 403 and Waterfield
reserve)
1-Who
was Baron Haussman? Who commissioned him? What
is he known for?
2-Name
two sites mentioned in the video.
3-Mention
one fact about the French Revolution.
2--What
to know about Paris ?
-Read
the article below from Rough Guide to Travel below.
-maps http://www.paris.org/Maps/MM/
To
go further: What
movies/documentaries do you know about Paris ? e.g PARIS Je T’AIME ; Paris; Midnight in Paris…Amélie
3--Questions
1/--locate
on map:
-Right
and Left banks (What characterizes each area ?
Give some monuments found on each side)
-The
river Seine
2
/--Locate on a map the following places and main monuments
Could
you recognize them?
-Montmartre/ The Sacré Coeur / Artists’square
(Place du Tertre)
-Le Louvre museum
-Boulevard
St Michel & Blvd St Germain
in Latin Quarter
-Notre Dame
-Versailles
-Museum of Orsay
-Arc de Triomphe / Champs Elysées
-La Sorbonne (Old University) in Latin Quarter
-The Eiffel Tower
-Le Parc de la Villette (science park)
-Le
Forum des Halles shopping center
-Beaubourg museum or Pompidou Center
-The
New Arch (L’Arche de la Defense) in west Paris
business district
-The
Operas (Garnier/Bastille)
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4--
Paris project: see course guidelines (web search on Paris site: report
written and oral). What have you learned from browsing the Paris
sites? Report: see course
guidelines
-Share
your favorite website on one aspect of Paris and why? (explain orally:
save url)
-Another
site that you found (url?)
-Final
report (written: see guidelines: 2 paragraphs).
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ARTICLE
ON PARIS. This article will give
you a summary of the Paris essentials.
PARIS
(from Rough Guide To Travel) is the paragon of style - perhaps the most
captivating city in Europe. Yet it is also deeply traditional, a
village-like and, in parts, dilapidated metropolis. Famous names and
events are invested with a glamour that elevates the city and its people
to a legendary realm, and it still clings to its status as an artistic,
intellectual and literary pacesetter.
The
city's history has conspired to create this sense of being apart. From a
shaky start the kings of France, whose seat was Paris, gradually extended
their control over their feudal rivals, centralizing administrative,
legal, financial and political power as they did so. The supremely
autocratic Louis XIV made Paris into a glorious symbol of the
pre-eminence of the State, a tradition his successors have been happy to
follow. Napoleon I added to the Louvre and built the Arc de Triomphe, the Madeleine and the Arc du Carrousel.
Napoleon III had Baron Haussmann redraw the city centre,
while recent presidents have initiated the skyscrapers at La Défense, the Tour Montparnasse, Beaubourg
and Les Halles shopping precinct, the space-age
Parc de la Villette
complex, the glass pyramid entrance to the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Bastille opera house, and the new
National Library.
Nowadays
the most tangible and immediate pleasures of Paris are to be found in its
street life and along the lively banks of the river Seine. Few cities can
compete with the cafés, bars and restaurants - modern and trendy, local
and traditional, humble and pretentious - that line every street and
boulevard. And the city's compactness makes it possible to explore on
foot and experience the individual feel of the different quartier. As for
entertainment, the city's strong points are in film and music. Paris is a
real cinema capital, and the best Parisian music encompasses jazz,
avant-garde, salsa and, currently, Europe's most vibrant African music
scene.
Paris
is split into two halves by the Seine. On the north of the river, the
Right Bank (rive droite) is home to the grand
boulevards and most monumental buildings, many dating from Haussmann's
nineteenth-century redevelopment, and is where you'll spend most time,
during the day at least. The top museums are here - the Louvre and Beaubourg, to name just two - as well as the city's
widest range of shops around rue de Rivoli and
Les Halles; and there are also peaceful
quarters like the Marais for idle strolling. The Left Bank (rive gauche)
has a noticeably different feel, its very name
conjuring Bohemian, dissident, intellectual connotations, and something
of this atmosphere survives in Paris' best range of bars and restaurants,
and its most wanderable streets. The areas
around St-Germain and St-Michel are full of
nooks and crannies to explore.
Parts
of Paris, of course, don't sit easily in either category. Montmartre,
rising up to the north of the centre, has
managed to retain a village-like, almost rural atmosphere with its colourful mixture of locals and artists despite the
daily influx of tourists. Undisturbed by tourism, the old and new
working-class quarters of eastern Paris offer a rich ethnic slice of
Parisian street life and in direct contrast, technological wonder is
paraded at the ground-breaking science museum constructed in the recently
renovated Parc de La Villette.
If you're planning to visit any museums, it's worth knowing that many
have reduced fees for under-25s, are often free for children and reduce
their fees by up to half on Sunday. They are often closed on Mondays or
Tuesdays and, if you plan to see more than a few during your stay, it's a
good idea to invest in a museum pass (one day, three consecutive days, five consecutive days). You can get them from
participating museums, some tourist offices, the larger metro stations and
FNAC ticket offices (FNAC big media/book stores!!!!) and they'll
certainly encourage you to be more adventurous with the vast choice of
museums and monuments in Paris.
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