The Pont Alexandre III is an arch bridge that spans the Seine, connecting the Champs-Élysées quarter and the Invalides and Eiffel Tower quarter, widely regarded as the most ornate, extravagant bridge in Paris. It is classified as a historical monument. The bridge, with its exuberant Art Nouveau lamps, cherubs, nymphs and winged horses at either end, was built between 1896 and 1900. It is named after Tsar Alexander III, who had concluded the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1892. His son Nicholas II laid the foundation stone in October 1896. The style of the bridge reflects that of the Grand Palais, to which it leads on the right bank.
The construction of the bridge is a marvel of 19th century engineering, consisting of a six-metre high single span steel arch. The design, by the architects Joseph Cassien-Bernard and Gaston Cousin, was subject to strict controls that prevented the bridge from obscuring the view of the Champs-Élysées or the Invalides.
Source: flickr.com/photos/anto13/10378318143/in/faves-41719705@N07/
This particular tree is a legend by himself. He even has a name: Ponthus' beech. He lives in the Brocéliande forest, in Bretagne (France), the one where many Arthurian legends occurred. One can also find Merlin's tomb here (well, at least one of them...). Different stories exist, but a common one is that Ponthus, a knight of the round table, lived in a castle there, somewhere around the 10th century. He was disappointed by the fact he had no child, and blasphemed about it. God punished him by destroying his castle in a storm, and the tree grew on its ruins.
Source: flickr.com/photos/22437135@N07/7195161066
Source: flickr.com/photos/22437135@N07/7164276670
Bormes-les-Mimosas is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It has a Mediterranean climate. Bormes-les-Mimosas is a city in bloom and won the 2003 Gold Medal awarded by the Entente Florale. The Fort de Brégançon, located in the commune, is the official retreat for the President of the French Republic.
Source: flickr.com/photos/cartediem/11994647176
Source: flickr.com/photos/24732508@N04/3195264118/in/photostream/
Source: flickr.com/photos/reallyboring/3675421024/in/photostream/
Source: 500px.com/photo/48905374/flowers-by-thibaut-conversat
Source: flickr.com/photos/funkyflamenca/5275789250/in/photostream/
Sceaux is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 9.7 km from the center of Paris. The Château de Sceaux is a grand country house in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, not far from Paris, France. Located in a park laid out by André Le Nôtre, it houses the Musée de l’Île-de-France, a museum of local history. The former château was built for Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV's minister of finance, who purchased the domaine in 1670. The present château, designed to evoke the style of Louis XIII, dates from the Second Empire. Some of Colbert's outbuildings remain, and the bones of the garden layout.
During the French Revolution the property was confiscated as a bien national, its contents sold for the benefit of the nation, and the building bought by M. Lecomte, a merchant of Saint-Malo. Under the Consulat, the original château was demolished, but the pavilion of Aurore, the Orangerie, the stables, and outbuildings were preserved. Crops were grown on Le Nôtre's terraces.
Source: pariscotejardin.fr/2012/04/le-jardin-de-lorangerie-du-parc-de-sceaux-hauts-de-seine/
