Have You Seen The Best Of The Louvre?
Tuesday, October 27, 2009

No visit to Paris would be complete unless you took in the Louvre while you are there. This art gallery and museum has some of the best displays you can see anywhere in the world – and with thousands of items to see this is really a full day experience as well.

The most famous exhibit, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, is the one that most people head for. And despite it being over five hundred years old, it attracts more attention today than it did when it was first created by this master painter. The bullet proof glass which shields it goes some way towards revealing the degree of unwanted attention the painting gets at times too.

But what else can you see here? There are other famous sights such as the Ship of Fools by Hieronymus Bosch, the Venus de Milo and a portrait of St Michael by Raphael. But among all these you will find plenty of other delights to amaze you just as much. They may not all be household names, but it is the mix of art on display here – with paintings, sculptures, sketches, statues and much more besides – that really captures the imagination.

Even if you spend the whole day in the Louvre you couldn’t hope to see it all. It’s a good idea then to grab a map as you go in and spend a few minutes marking all the areas and exhibits that you don’t want to miss. You can then see those and explore the rest of the museum as you see fit.

Of course half of the delight of the Louvre is the controversy that has popped up from time to time about the exterior of the building too. The Louvre itself is a study in classic French architecture, taking you back more than two centuries to when the museum first opened its doors.

And at the front there is the huge Pyramid that draws the eye towards the rest of the building. Whatever you might think of this, there is no doubt that the Louvre draws an opinion from everyone who sees it.

Posted by Co-op Travel 12:08 PM 0 comments    

Paris is a Beach!
Monday, July 16, 2007

16 July 2007

Not everyone wants to spend their days sun worshipping on holiday. But even the most dedicated visitor to Paris this summer will find its impressive artificial beach – Paris Plage - more than a little tempting as a haven away from its museums and galleries.

For anyone going to Europe’s capital of style, culture and romance this August, the beach is a perfect place to relax for while. It has to be one of the must-do things this summer in Paris.

August in Paris has a completely different feel to it from any other time of year. As Parisians head south for their own holidays, Paris makes an extra effort to welcome its own holidaymakers with this annual transformation of the Seine, complete with deck chairs, palm trees, parasols, floating swimming pool, aquagym, dance sessions, boules, concerts and free entertainment.

So after you have tired of the Louvre, need recovery time after a night of clubbing or want to sleep off a large meal, heading for the banks of the Seine for a bit of sun bathing is the perfect thing to do.

Posted by Co-op Travel 11:26 AM 0 comments    

Paris Jazz Festival - From 16 June to 29 July 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007

11 June 2007

What could be nicer than spending a lazy summer afternoon in the Parc Floral listening to some of the best jazz musicians in the world? The Paris Jazz Festival, now a fixture on the international jazz calendar, is held on summer weekends every year, to the delight of music lovers.

From 9 June onwards, big name international jazz: musicians who generally play gigs in some of the best clubs in New York and London will performing for fans of jazz, blues and funk at the well-known botanical garden in the French capital.

This year’s line-up includes the Sample Trio & Randy Crawford, the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, Richard Bona and Thomas Dutronc. The event in the heart of the Bois de Vincennes also attracts a number of wellbeing adepts who wish to enjoy open-air concerts in the midst of a flower-filled park. If you’ve never been to the festival, don’t miss this year’s concerts, on every Saturday and Sunday until 29 July.

Chilling out with culture: feels like the holidays!

Posted by Co-op Travel 9:57 AM 0 comments    

The World's Top 50 Tourist Attractions
Monday, May 21, 2007

1 May 2007

The Sydney Opera House has been named by Forbes Traveler website as one of the top 50 visited tourist attractions in the world. The Sydney icon came in at No. 38 with more than four million annual visitors and is the only attraction in the southern hemisphere listed.

Thirteen countries are represented in the list with the US home to 20 of the locations, followed by France and Britain with seven each.

Amusement and theme parks are the world's dominant attractions with 16 in the top 35 including all five Disney theme parks (Orlando, Paris, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Hong Kong) and the three Universal studios (Orlando, Osaka and Los Angeles).

Times Square in New York topped the list with an estimated 35 million visitors while Trafalgar Square (No.4) was the most popular attraction outside of North America.

Paris featured seven attractions, the most from any one city.

Forbes Traveler excluded shopping centres and religious pilgrimage sites, such as Mecca, from the list. Although some religious sites, such as Notre Dame Cathedral and the Vatican, were included for their cultural significance.

The top 10
1. Times Square, New York
2. Memorial, Washington D.C.
3. Disney World, Orlando
4. Trafalgar Square, London
5. Disneyland, Los Angeles
6. Niagara Falls, Canada/USA
7. Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco
8. Disney Resort, Tokyo
9. Notre Dame, Paris
10. Disneyland, Paris

Posted by Co-op Travel 9:07 AM 0 comments    

Paris Museum Gets Renovation to Restore Forgotten Touches
Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Two decades ago, France transformed an abandoned railway station into a glittering museum for Impressionist masterpieces. Now, the Orsay Museum is getting another overhaul - to resurrect forgotten architectural details of the original train depot.
The museum on the banks of the Seine River is shrouded in scaffolding and netting as experts paint it, rebuild corroded metal marquees and restore pollution-stained stonework.

The touchups on the facade are part of a broader renovation that will cost upward of euro12.4 million (US$16 million). Instead of just cleaning up the stones, researchers have gone on a search for the building's roots.

For its opening in 1986, architects painted the building's metal accents in pale blue-green, giving the museum its unusual look - a mixture of imposing stone and delicate metalwork.

But recent laboratory tests showed that the metal accents were in fact painted in beige and wood hues when the original train station opened in 1900. At that time, architects generally tried to hide the metalwork -- viewed as functional, but not pretty - by painting it to blend in with the stone.

When the scaffolding comes down in May, the museum will have restored that lost color scheme.

"In 1986, the operation was to prove that we could transform a train station into a museum, and put a museum for 19th century art inside," Benjamin Mouton, the chief architect for France's historic monuments, told reporters Tuesday. "Today, (the challenge) is putting a bit of the train station back into the museum."

The station, with an attached hotel, was built by architect Victor Laloux for the 1900 World's Fair. During World War II, it became a mailing center for sending packages to prisoners of war. Later it temporarily housed a theater troupe and an auction house.

In 1977, President Valery Giscard d'Estaing gave the order to turn Orsay into a museum. Today, with 3 million visitors a year, it is one of Paris' most popular tourist attractions, showcasing art from 1848 to 1914 and holding a treasure trove of works by Monet, Degas, Manet, Gauguin, Van Gogh and Cezanne. The museum will stay open during the renovations.

After overhauling the facade, the museum will refurbish a gallery that holds large paintings by French master Gustave Courbet to improve the lighting, museum director Serge Lemoine said. The current blend of artificial and natural light covers the works with a glare.

Officials also plan to set up a new gallery of animal sculptures upstairs, near the huge clock that is a remnant of the old train station. They will also improve visitors' access and enlarge gallery space.

The museum has steadily acquired more works over the years - today it has 79,783, compared to 47,172 in 1986 - and it is running out of space. Down the line, Lemoine said, the museum is interested in buying nearby buildings so it can expand comfortably.

For more information visit The China Post

Posted by Co-op Travel 11:26 AM 0 comments    

Asiana to Fly to Paris
Thursday, January 25, 2007

Korea and France have agreed to allow multiple airlines to operate the Seoul-Paris route, enabling Asiana Airlines to fly to the French capital.

The Ministry of Construction and Transportation said late Wednesday night that the two governments decided to allow two carriers from each country to operate the route and to increase the frequency of flights next year. The agreement was made during aviation talks held at the Kwachon Government Complex in Kyonggi Province.

The decision came as Korea agreed to France’s demand that Korea accept the EU community clause, under which France can designate an airline of any other EU member country as its national flag carrier.

France insisted on the demand to protect its airline market, as France has only one national flag carrier, Air France, while Korea has two, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines. Air France and Korean Air _ one carrier from each country _ have operated the route daily since 1973.

According to the agreement, up to two carriers from each country will operate the route starting March 2008. Air France can select one carrier from any EU member country.

The number of weekly flights will increase from the current seven per country to 10. The added three flights are likely to be given to Asiana Airlines, according to a new standard for air route distribution. The distribution will be confirmed after discussions by a distribution committee.

An additional flight will be added in March 2010, the ministry said.

``Through the increase of airlines and operations, we expect competition among carriers to lead to airfare discounts. The agreement will also enhance travelers’ convenience by increasing the frequency of flights on the route,’’ a ministry official said.

The two nations also agreed that if Korea and nearby Asian countries form a bloc similar to the EU, Korea can designate carriers of the bloc members as national flag carriers, as France does under the EU community clause.

Posted by Co-op Travel 4:48 PM 0 comments    

Visitors to Eiffel Tower Climb to Record in 2006
Friday, January 19, 2007

PARIS, France - A record 6.7 million people visited the Eiffel Tower in 2006, most of them foreign tourists, the firm that manages the Paris landmark said on Friday.

Since the tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair, 230 million people have climbed its 1,665 steps or taken the elevators to admire the views from the 324-metre (1,063 ft) high structure, the SETE group said.

Early last year, tourism officials said they feared student protests in the city center and the 2005 riots in the suburbs of the French capital and other cities would deter visitors, but the fears were not borne out.

Visits to the Eiffel Tower rose by 300,000 last year compared with 2005, with up to 30,000 people visiting it daily on busy days, SETE said.

Posted by Co-op Travel 9:21 AM 0 comments