HI,
sorry that I have not posted in a while. Things are hectic here in my third week (i've already been here about half my trip!) and I have a presentation on Friday so I am going to quickly catch up on some things from last week.
On Tuesday, we talked about the urban and city planning methods in Paris by visiting many different squares. Like Piazza's in Rome, here, they are called "Places" not pronounced the way you think, use an extended short vowel form of the letter "a" and you've got it. So we visited a couple of those open urban spaces and it was really interesting to me because I took a course in the fall of last year where we discussed the planning in New York City. Urban Planning in NY is based on the movement of people, and typically, what areas would people like the most? By analyzing factors such as sunshine, shade, chairs, benches, fountains, and other urban structures it was found that people generally like sitting in the sun, around areas with water, and like sitting anywhere (i.e. steps, slanted edges of things) most notably, moveable chairs. People don't generally like sitting at stationary chairs or benches because of personal space. It was interesting to watch a video and watch a time lapse and see how people moved about.But back to Paris. Here, urban planning is not for the people, rather, it is for an architectural benefit and to display the wealth that the patron has amassed. For example, most of these spaces end up being private gardens that only the wealthy can aford and in the past were not open to the public. However, King Henri IV created a place, Place de Vosges, where it was a square right outside his residence. Therefore it had the function of being a political ground and gathering place when the King would like to speak to his citizens. It's an interesting concept that i enjoyed learning about.
Following the Squares, we went to the Eiffel Tower at Trocadero to watch the France Sweden soccer game on the big screen that they have set up there. But because it was raining, we didn't stay too long. It was still cool to see, maybe i'll go see the eurocup final there.
The next day, on our way to Vaux le Vicomte, we stopped at an old castle like structure to look at the dry moats and thick walls and the medieval type architecture which I have been wanting to see. I love castles!
Hope the pictures are enjoyable,
Ro <3
sorry that I have not posted in a while. Things are hectic here in my third week (i've already been here about half my trip!) and I have a presentation on Friday so I am going to quickly catch up on some things from last week.
On Tuesday, we talked about the urban and city planning methods in Paris by visiting many different squares. Like Piazza's in Rome, here, they are called "Places" not pronounced the way you think, use an extended short vowel form of the letter "a" and you've got it. So we visited a couple of those open urban spaces and it was really interesting to me because I took a course in the fall of last year where we discussed the planning in New York City. Urban Planning in NY is based on the movement of people, and typically, what areas would people like the most? By analyzing factors such as sunshine, shade, chairs, benches, fountains, and other urban structures it was found that people generally like sitting in the sun, around areas with water, and like sitting anywhere (i.e. steps, slanted edges of things) most notably, moveable chairs. People don't generally like sitting at stationary chairs or benches because of personal space. It was interesting to watch a video and watch a time lapse and see how people moved about.But back to Paris. Here, urban planning is not for the people, rather, it is for an architectural benefit and to display the wealth that the patron has amassed. For example, most of these spaces end up being private gardens that only the wealthy can aford and in the past were not open to the public. However, King Henri IV created a place, Place de Vosges, where it was a square right outside his residence. Therefore it had the function of being a political ground and gathering place when the King would like to speak to his citizens. It's an interesting concept that i enjoyed learning about.
Following the Squares, we went to the Eiffel Tower at Trocadero to watch the France Sweden soccer game on the big screen that they have set up there. But because it was raining, we didn't stay too long. It was still cool to see, maybe i'll go see the eurocup final there.
The next day, on our way to Vaux le Vicomte, we stopped at an old castle like structure to look at the dry moats and thick walls and the medieval type architecture which I have been wanting to see. I love castles!
Hope the pictures are enjoyable,
Ro <3
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| Trees in Place Vosges |
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| ME |
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| Place Vendome and Napoleon's tower which is modeled after Trajan's Column which is in Rome. I made the connection! Basically, Napoleon was trying to show his dominance of power by saying that he was equal to Trajan and was of that high military stature. Though he was short. |
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| LOOK AT THE SCREEN |
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| Our group who went |
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| The old fortifications. And all the green that you see is part of a dry moat which is for an aesthetic appeal. |
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| More of the fortification of the structure! |
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