Dubai, at Mall of the Emirates

 

One of the attractions of Dubai is its magnificent Shopping Malls. From the outside a mall looked like an ordinary building, but inside it is truly amazing, with an attractive and well-designed interior. Once we go inside we feel at home there, to do our shopping, looking for nice meals, playing, watching movies or just looking around. 

The Mall of the Emirates is one of the most magnificent Malls in Dubai, its six hundred thousand square meters space is filled with shops that mostly sell international branded goods. There are more than five hundred shops located on all four floors of this Mall. However, if you do not intend to shop there, there is a cinema and a place to play at Magic Planet. When you get tired, you can choose to eat in one of the many restaurants serving a variety of food. There is local Middle Eastern food, Asian and Western food, all served in a room with nice surrounding. 

And in the midst of Dubai heat, you can play in Ski Dubai, an indoor ski hall. With a ski slope 85 meters high and 140 meters long, it is the largest in the world. The room temperature is maintained between minus one degree and two degrees Celsius, to keep the meter-high snow intact. Thus, even though the outside temperature is around 45 degrees Celsius, you can slide on the snow inside this Mall. To play here you have to buy a ticket, the price is around 70 USD, depending on the facility you choose.

 

THE END

 

Source: https://www.malloftheemirates.com/en

Paris, from Pompidou Centre to La Défense

 

Strolling from the Marais area where the buildings are in the 17th century style to the Beaubourg through the narrow streets and alleys we find a huge building with a unique colorful style. It is the Pompidou Center, a multicultural complex, bringing together in one place different forms of art and literature. It houses a Public Information Library, a vast public library and the Museum of Modern Art. It is named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974 who commissioned the building, and was officially opened on 31 January 1977. 

Created in the style of modern architecture by the architectural team of Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano the building looks like of an 'inside-out' building with its structural system, mechanical systems, and circulation exposed on the exterior of the building with colorful pipes and ducts. From the outside, the visual signature of the building is embodied by the huge mechanical escalator, known as the “caterpillar”, designed to serve as a vertical outdoor path. It is the primary artery of the Pompidou Centre, serving all levels and transporting the public upwards. Its transparency provides one of the finest views of Paris, and as you travel up, it seems as though you are still strolling through the city. 

The vast plaza in front of the building forms an integral part of the Pompidou Centre and serves as a strong link between the city and the building, thus enabling the most natural flow possible between the two spaces. The plaza acts as a lung, a place of life where Parisians, tourists and onlookers cross paths. People come here to meet others, to stroll, to rest or contemplate their surroundings. In the spring, the plaza becomes more lively with carnivals, bands, and street performers. 

From the Pompidou Centre, our next trip is to another modern buildings complex in Paris, the business center of La Défense. By taking the Metro from the Hotel de Ville for about half an hour we arrive at the Esplanade Metro station, the location of La Défense. Right above the metro station stands La Grande Arche, a 110 meter cube monument designed to be a late-20th-century version of the Arc de Triomphe. Its designer Johan Otto V. Spreckelsen described it as a window onto the world. It is intended to function as a place where people with different backgrounds and cultures can meet and communicate. 

Around Le Grande Arche, La Défense contains many of the Paris urban area's tallest high-rises. There are hundreds of high-rises and buildings belonging to the top companies in the world in this area. There is also a large shopping mall, Les Quatre Temps, with 220 stores, 48 restaurants and a 24-screen movie theatre. One day is definitely not enough to explore this area! 

 

THE END

 

Sources:

https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/collections/our-building

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Arche

 

Paris, at Sacré Coeur

 

From the Anvers metro station, we walked a bit along the Rue de Steinkerque in the Montmartre area to the Place Saint-Pierre. Montmartre, which notably means hill of martyrs, owed its name to Saint Denis, who was beheaded on this hill in the third century on the orders of the emperor Decius. Saint Denis was Bishop of Paris at the time and is now known as the patron saint of France. 

A short walk later, we saw the white building of the Sacré-Cœur basilica perched on top of the hill of Montmartre. It is amazing that the basilica although is more than 100 years old, its white color is not polluted. Apparently this is because the walls were built from travertine limestone from Château-Landon. This stone has a very interesting characteristic: when it comes into contact with rainwater, the thin protective layer that naturally coats the stone releases a white substance that hardens in the sun. Therefore, every rain is an opportunity for this building to cleanse ! 

The Sacré-Cœur Basilica, which means the Sacred Heart Basilica, is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Christ. From the beginning until now, the faithful take turns day and night to pray here without stop. Each evening, after the doors close at 10.30pm, the prayer relay continues, with people registering for the evening service in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On the ceiling above the altar is one of the largest mosaics in the world depicting the risen Jesus Christ, clothed in white and revealing a heart of gold. This mosaic created by Luc-Olivier Merson, shows the worshipers around Jesus represented by the saints: St Joan of Arc, St Mary and St Michael. 

At the front of this basilica under the statue of Jesus Christ there are also statues of St. Louis IX and St. Joan of Arc sitting on a horse, besides being considered saints they are also respected French heroes. So this basilica also became a symbol of French nationalism. Its construction is also an effort of national reconciliation and atonement for the tragic events of the Paris Commune in 1870-71. 

The architecture of this basilica is unique compared to other major churches in Paris such as Notre Dame. Many large churches in France have gothic architecture, while architect Paul Abadie was inspired to design this church in Romano-Byzantine style after completing many restorations on a similarly designed church in southern France. The Byzantine style of the building is characterized by a high dome, the result of new techniques of the sixth century, and the interior features many mosaics.

 

THE END

 

SOURCE:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacr%C3%A9-C%C5%93ur,_Paris

Paris, from Hotel de Ville to Seine

 

Walking in Paris, strolling on cobbled streets flanked by old buildings, we really can feel the romantic atmosphere. As in many European cities, the buildings and streets were preserved that way, not modernized. The last Paris renovations were carried out from 1852 to 1870 by Georges-Eugne Haussmann under the order of Napoléon III. Haussmann’s work gave Paris the look it has today as well as its architecture. He created a very long and wide avenue with cafes and shops that influenced much of Parisian life. The architecture of classical Haussmann buildings was not designed independently but rather as part of a quarter, block, and thus the style should be coherent and in harmony with the architecture of the other buildings. The ground floor has thick walls. The second floor offers beautiful balconies and the third and fourth floors are built in the same style, although the window frames have less intricate stonework. 

After wandering through the cobbled streets of Le Marais, we arrived at the Hotel de Ville. Wow we thought, this hotel looked like a palace or a museum, wasn’t it? It turns out that in French, 'hotel' can mean a house, building, residence, so it does not always mean hotel as a place to rent rooms to stay for tourists. Today, apart from functioning as the city's administrative office, the Hotel de Ville is also a venue for art and cultural exhibitions. There are many interesting exhibits in the building and on the grounds in front of this building. 

From the Hotel de Ville we walked not far, only a few hundred meters to the south, to arrive at the Seine river. We can walk along this river or take a ferry to explore Paris. It turns out that the Eiffel Tower is located on the bank of this river and is one of the stops of the ferry route. The name of this stop is Port de la Bourdonnais. From this side we can see the towering Eiffel Tower, with its trademark brown color named Eiffel Tower Brown. 

Walking along the Seine reminds me of the words of the famous French painter Claude Monet: “I have painted the Seine all my life, in every hour, in every season. I never get bored: for me the Seine is always new.” But the river Seine in Paris is not as beautiful as Monet's paintings made in the interior of France, such as Argenteuil, Poissy and so on. Although the river water in Paris is not blue like in the painting, and there are no lotus plants, it flows calmly leading us to various history that are close to it, besides the Eiffel Tower, also Notre Dame Cathedral, Louvre Museum, and Musée d'Orsay.

 

THE END

 

 

Source:

 

https://www.french-property.com/regions/haussmann-buildings-architecture/#:~:text=The%20Parisian%20Haussmann%20buildings%20and%20architecture%20renovations%20were,to%20buildings%E2%80%99%20front%20facades%2C%20public%20parks%20and%20monuments.