Parisian Postcards...

Here are the Parisian Postcards - glimpses from my trip around Paris today! This trip made me fall head over heels with everything about Paris. Little wonder, Paris is called the most beautiful city in the world...

 When you're in love in Paris, you show it with a lock!

Pont des Arts, also known as Lover's Bridge. This is the location of the scene of the famous kiss between Big and Carrie in the movie, Sex and the City...

It is a new tradition to attach a simple padlock inscribed with names of lovers to the bridge and throw the key into the Seine...

The bridge has hundreds of locks making it an incredible sight...

The phenomena has spread to other bridges in Paris including the  Pont de l'Archevêché...

An equestrian statue of King Henri IV by François-Frédéric Lemot on the Pont Neuf...

The Latin Quarter or the Sorbonne - this area houses universities...

A view of Notre-Dame Cathedral from the left bank of the Seine...

Paris memorabilia...

Telling the time...

The lovers' garden behind the Notre-Dame...

The Institut de France with its distinct architecture, was established in 1795, by the French government. Its mandate is to preserve French arts and culture in the old school way. They are reported to have outraged by the increased use of English words in everyday French conversation and went on to look for an appropriate French alternative to the word "weekend"!

Cruise on the Seine...

The Paris Orleans clock at the Gare d'Orsay - the building now houses the Musée d'Orsay, where I had been yesterday...

Assemblee Nationale - the lower house of the French parliament...

Place de la Concorde - it was here King Louis XVI was guillotined in 1793...

The Luxor Obelisk, over 3,000 years old, which was originally outside of Luxor Temple in Egypt, was gifted to France by Muhammed Ali, Khedive of Egypt in the 1800s...

Now the Obelisk is located at the Place de la Concorde...

Going around Place de la Concorde...

Rue Royale...

Place de la Concorde...

Headed towards Avenue des Champs-Élysées ...

The 1.9 kilometre long and 70 metres wide Avenue des Champs-Élysées runs between the Place de la Concorde and the Place Charles de Gaulle, where the Arc de Triomphe is located...

The pride of Paris - Champs-Élysées...

Champs-Élysées is known for its theatres, cafés and luxury shops, and for the annual military parade that takes place on 14th of July to celebrate Bastille Day...

 Champs-Élysées is French for the Elysian Fields, the paradise for dead heroes in Greek mythology. The French proudly nickname this world-famous avenue "la plus belle avenue du monde" ("the world's most beautiful avenue"). I don't dispute that at all...

Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle (originally named Place de l'Étoile), at the western end of the Champs-Élysées...

The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars...

The names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces...

 Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I...

Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées, or the Grand Palais, is a historic exhibition hall and museum complex built in 1897 for the Universal Exposition of 1900,..

Pont Alexandre III Bridge Golden Statue...

And I see the magnificent Eiffel again...

Finally a full grab...

The golden dome of Les Invalides...

Napoleon Bonaparte lies buried directly underneath the gilded dome...

Les Invalides houses museums and monuments, relating to the military history of France...

Les Invalides was intended to be a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans...

Palais Garnier, the 1,979-seat opera house, was built from 1861 to 1875 to house the Paris Opera...

It was originally called the Salle des Capucines, but was renamed as the Palais Garnier, after its architect, Charles Garnier. The theatre is also often referred to as the Opéra Garnier...