Parijs

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen
I’m going to tell you something about Paris, the capital of France.

The History
Paris is situated at the river the Seine. In the city, the Seine divides herself and there are two islands, the Ile de la Cité, where the Notre Dame is, and the Ile Saint-Louis.
About 300 before Christ, Celtic boatmen and fishermen established themselves at the Ile de la Cité and called there city Lutetia, what means swampy place.
When the Romans came, they build bridges and streets. The city was called Lutetia Parisiorum. Later it is was renamed Paris.

Nowadays Paris has 2,2 million inhabitants and an area of 105,35 square kilometer.

Paris has a lot of culture. There are many monuments and museums.
A well known building is the Eiffel tower. It’s build for the world fair in 1889 on the Champs the Mars. The plan was made by the civil engineer Gustave Eiffel. The tower is 300 meters high and is the most famous symbol of Paris.
At first the people of Paris describes the Eiffel tower as a monster and a very ugly pillar of iron but when it was finished they liked it so much that the plan of taken it down after the world fair was not carried out.
When it’s very clear weather you have a view of 100 kilometre from this tower.

A well known museum is the Louvre, where the Mona Lisa is. Outside the old palace there is a pyramid of glass. You can go inside and buy your tickets. The corridors of the Louvre have a length of 32 kilometers. There are a lot of Dutch paintings in the Louvre too. It’s the biggest Art museum of the world.

In 1163, bishop Maurice de Sully gave the order for the building of the cathedral the Notre Dame. It was finished in 1345. It’s a beautiful building on the Ile de la Cité. In 1804 Napoleon was crowned till emperor in the Notre Dame. Many well known people married in the Notre Dame. The Notre Dame has big stained-glass windows in the shape of a rosette.
Especially when the sun shines and you’re inside the cathedral it is a beautiful view. The windows have a diameter of thirteen meters.
In the cathedral is a treasury with many gold objects and priests' clothing.
Behind the cathedral is a beautiful monument for the victims of the second world war.

The Arc de Triomphe is a monument for the French soldiers who were killed in the war, but it was build in 1806 in memory of Napoleon the first. Twelve wide avenues arrive here from all directions and forms a star shape. The Arc de Triomphe is fifty meters high.

In the seventies the Centre Pompidou was built. It’s a big building of glass and steal and pipes with many colors, like blue, green, red and orange. It looks like a factory. Inside of it there is a big library and a museum for modern art. At first the inhabitants of Paris didn’t like the building because it’s very modern and it’s in the middle of old Paris. But they got used to it and it’s accepted.

If you want to enter the building you are searched electronically because they are afraid of attempts of any kind.

Just behind the Centre Pompidou there is a fantastic fountain designed by Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint-Phalle. It’s called the fountain Stavinksy.
It’s made of paper mâché in 1983. The figures are very colorful and they are turning and spraying water.

In Paris almost everybody eats in a restaurant every evening. It’s normal and it’s not like in Holland just for the chumminess. That is why there are many restaurants in Paris. At ten o’clock there are still a lot of people outside and even at Sunday evening many stores are still open.

In Paris is a well known department store, Lafayette. It’s a building with a gorgeous couple of glass. You can buy a lot of things there, like clothing of famous designers, perfume, cosmetics and beautiful underwear, but also furniture and household articles. It's very expensive, like a dress-coat of one thousand guilder.

15 kilometres outside Paris there is an amusement park; Disneyland Paris. It is a big and very beautiful park with a couple of heavy roller coasters. In the middle of the park there is a pink palace. There are a lot of Disney figures walking around in the park for the little children. But also for grown-ups it is a very nice amusement park because there are many attractions that are not suitable for little children, like the Space Mountain, a roller coaster in the dark. There is also a roller coaster that goes backwards. It’s called Indiana Jones.

This was my speech about Paris, thank you for your attention and I hope you enjoined it.