Aerial pictures of Paris

[Minato Ku]

Picture by Antoine Grondeau


Picture by Antoine Grondeau


Picture by Antoine Grondeau


Picture by Antoine Grondeau


Picture by Antoine Grondeau


Picture by Antoine Grondeau


Picture by Antoine Grondeau


Picture by Antoine Grondeau


Picture by Antoine Grondeau


Picture by Antoine Grondeau


Picture by Antoine Grondeau


Picture by Antoine Grondeau

[Metropolitan]

All those pictures come from a website called Survol de France. It's a great website with tons of similar pictures all over France. The cool thing with that website is that new pictures are continuously uploaded... making it a nice place to check every now and then to see what's new.

Here are some of the (very few) pictures Minato hasn't posted yet. Actually, all of them are from the suburbs.

[Metropolitan]

Originally Posted by Rathgrith015

Those overhead pics of old Paris make the city seem so totalitarian. Every thing is the same height, the Eiffel tower watches over everything...

As a matter of fact, Paris has known a terrific economic booming from the 1890's to the 1910's. The demand was so high that nearly anyone could ask for funding at a bank and build a building. This amazing demand explains why there are so many building from that era in Paris. This is what is generally called a golden age.

The funny thing is that NYC has known a similar golden age from the 1920's to the 1940's. It is that period which has shaped the city and gave its image. Those NYC buildings are only 20 years older than those in Paris. They are 70 years old when those in Paris are 90 years old. However, Paris buildings are considered "old" when NYC buildings are considered "cool". This proves Paris has definitely a problem with its image.

[crossword]

I have no words to express the beauty of Paris.
Incredibly beautuiful!

[Phil McAvity]

I'll never understand why they didn't put Montparnasse in La Defense.

Je ne comprende pas.

Regardless, amazing pictures of an even more amazing city.

[muppet]

just so fantastic and impressive. The city par excellence

[BrianSac]

Nouvelle et Vieil. C'est Belle.

[City_boy12]

Amazingggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jibba]

Whoa. Paris is just insane. It's one of those cities that when viewed from above really looks like the cooperated work of a group of organisms (in this case humans) rather than what I traditionally associate with a "city". Kind of like coral or a bee hive or something.

[10023]

Originally Posted by Jibba

Whoa. Paris is just insane. It's one of those cities that when viewed from above really looks like the cooperated work of a group of organisms (in this case humans) rather than what I traditionally associate with a "city". Kind of like coral or a bee hive or something.

The first time I visited Paris, I got the sense that every other city (New York and Chicago of course, but even other European capitals like London and Berlin) was a "work in progress", but Paris was a completed work. It felt like the French had built this city and then said "c'est magnifique, nous sommes finis".

I know that's not accurate - there's a ton going on in Paris and even the old buildings are always being rehabbed and adaptively reused, etc. But that's the sense I got from a place with no empty lots, few dilapidated structures (in the central arrondisements) and a feel of being very well lived in.

[Rico Rommheim]

This is the mother of all cities. The greatest planned community ever achieved and the best example of human building cities for humans.


Even la defense is a refined and polished piece of urbanism. Cities in the rest of the world, particularly in booming asia should take cues from paris instead of North American cities.

Those overhead pics of old Paris make the city seem so totalitarian. Every thing is the same height, the Eiffel tower watches over everything...

This is because it is a totalitarian work. No open democracy could ever build such a cohesive city in such a short amount of time. Emperor Napoleon III ordered the city of Paris to be completely razed and rebuilt in the 1860's. Before this Paris was a chaotic medieval city with insane density which resulted in unsanitary conditions. The city was designed to be orderly and allow for large armies to move easily (presumably to be more efficient in the event of riots and rebellions).

Paris is for all intense and purposes a city built on the principle of order, from its large boulevards to its second empire architecture.



I love it!

[Nantais]

Originally Posted by 10023

It felt like the French had built this city and then said "c'est magnifique, nous sommes finis".

Did you mean "nous avons fini", instead of "nous sommes finis" ?
Because "nous sommes finis" means something like "we are doomed".

[10023]

Originally Posted by Nantais

Did you mean "nous avons fini", instead of "nous sommes finis" ?
Because "nous sommes finis" means something like "we are doomed".

I haven't studied French for 15 years. Give a guy a break.