France

France pictures. France has an unmistakable atmosphere which fills it from the idyllic southern stretches of the country all the way to the grand boulevards of Paris. Paris is arguably one of the most beautiful cities of the world, home to many symbols for which France (and actually Europe) is well-known everywhere: the Eiffel Tower, the Triumphal Arch, the Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Sacré Coeur, the typical French houses lining the city's avenues, and in general, the 'Parisian atmosphere'.
These pictures depict Paris (often from unusual angles) and many seaside towns - both from the sunny south (including holiday resorts like Marseille and Nice) and the chilly north (D-Day landing sites and war cemeteries, fishing villages and old ports), plus Monaco (which is an independent state within the French mainland).

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Paris

Siesta under Napoleon's Triumphal Arch

The Pont des Arts (Bridge of Arts) footbridge with the Institut de France.

View of Paris from the top of Napoleon's Triumphal Arch.

Champs-Élysées (meaning the 'Elysian Fields'), the best-known grand avenue of Paris. The Jardin des Tuileries and the Palais du Louvre can be seen in the background.

Trees lining the Champs-Élysées.

The Champs-Élysées with the Arch de Triomphe, as seen from the Place de la Concorde.

Paris

Place de la Concorde, between the Champs-Élysées and the Louvre.

The pedestrianized center of Place de la Concorde.

Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel), the most well-known landmark of France (and maybe Europe).

The stairs leading up to the tower's viewing platforms are visible among the girders.

Under the Eiffel Tower.

The elaborate ornaments of the Eiffel Tower.

The streets surrounding Eiffel Tower.

Paris at night.

Fog over Paris.

The modern Grande Arche de la Défense in the financial quarter of Paris, the Défense.

French children on the Great Arch's stairs.

Métro.

St Louis Island on the Seine.

Parisian houses on Ile de St Louis.

The old royal palace of Louvre with the recently completed glass Louvre Pyramid in the middle.

The Louvre as seen from the glass pyramid.

Bridge leading to the Louvre

Rue des Malmaisons, Chinatown

Chinese McDonalds in Paris's Chinatown (near Porte d'Ivry)

Underground map in the Trocadéro tube station.

Trocadéro station

The Parisian Métropolitain subway.

The facade of the Institut du Monde Arabe consists of thousands of light-sensitive shutters that control the lightness of the building's interior.

The hill of Montmartre with the cathedral Sacré Coeur.

View from Montmartre.

View from Montmartre.

Buskers in Paris.

Place de la Concorde at nightfall.

Notre Dame from a less well-known angle.

View from the Notre Dame.

The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel in front of the Louvre.

The small triumphal arch.

The RER suburban railway of Paris.

Rain.

Typical Parisian house.

Bridge over the Seine.

The bank of the Seine.

Next to the Seine.

Two of the 12 avenues radiating from the square where Napoleon's Arc de Triomphe is located (Place Charles de Gaulle / Étoile).

Avenue de Choisy, the high street of Chinatown

On top of the post-modern Pompidou Centre (Beaubourg) art exhibition hall.

Old lamps with the obelisk in Place de la Concorde.

The Avenue de la Grand Armée which runs towards the Défense quarter, forming part of the Voie Triomphale (Triumphal Way), or the Axe Historique (Historic Axis).

Trocadéro.

The Jardin des Tuileries, between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde.

Paris.

The colors of Paris.

Saint-Malo

The bay Anse des Sablons near the historic walled city of Saint-Malo

The old alleyways of the walled city

The walled city from the ferry to Portsmouth

The beach right outside the walled city

A cold Spring

The islands Grand Bé, Petit Bé and Cézembre off the coast surrounding the walled city

Broken lamp on the city walls

On top of the city walls; the town used to be an independent republic

Outside

Dreamy

The row of restaurants don't really fit in well with the overall character of the place

Historic buildings by the Anse des Sablons bay

Bayside promenade by Anse des Sablons

The colours of Saint-Malo

Forlorn beach

The bay adjacent to the walled city

Charge!

The walled city and the island of Grand Bé

On the wall of the walled city (La Ville Intra-Muros)

The city walls

Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach, one of the principal sites of the Allied landings on D-Day

Omaha Beach in 2008

The Germans, whose bunkers were on the hillside overlooking the beach, were in a much better position strategically

More than 3000 soldiers died here on D-Day

Race

Taking the hills by the beach proved to be a rather tough task

March 2008

Kids

Sandy beach

The war cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer is a few hundred meters away from here

Stroll

Tree deformed by the wind

Boiling sea

Mont-Saint-Michel

Mont Saint-Michel, a 'town' built over the centuries on sheer rock

The approach to the mount

Loudspeakers are warning people of the rapidly approaching tide - soon this whole low-lying chunk of land will be under water

Apparently this was the inspiration for the design of Minas Tirith in the Lord Of The Rings movies

Late evening by Mont Saint-Michel

Fields, endless fields

Contrary to the popular belief that the tide is a slow-moving thing, it took the sea 60(!) seconds to reclaim a 3-metre wide strip of this sloping pavement

Construction was started in the 8th century and lasted for hundreds of years

Bird circling the cathedral

Mont Saint-Michel is a tidal island - only the man-made causeway separates it from the continent at high tide

The site became the target of religious pilgrims, many of them dying during the last mile of their journey in the quicksands surrounding the island

Evening

Colleville-sur-Mer

The entrance of the American war cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer

The graves of American soldiers

The cemetery is next to allied D-Day landing site Omaha Beach

Graves

Thousands of soldiers are buried here

Bény-sur-Mer

Canadian War Cemetery

The Canadian war cemetery near the village of Bény-sur-Mer

Canadian flag on the grave of an engineer who died during the Normandy landings

Rows of graves in the Canadian war cemetery

'Their name liveth for evermore'

Memorial

A rainy day in Normandy

Étretat

The vertical alabaster cliffs of Étretat

The seaside promenade

It was a rather wet experience

The colours of a stormy day

Falaise d'Aval, a natural arch just outside Étretat

The town of Étretat

Somewhat misplaced thatched huts on the seafront

Spring weather in Normandy

The white statue is a monument to The White Bird (L'Oiseau Blanc), the plane with which two Frenchmen tried to cross the atlantic in the 1920s - this was the last place they were spotted in France before completely disappearing

French seaside

Falaise d'Aval and a flying French flag

Hiking trail near Étretat

Natural arch

Waves battering the Normandy coast

View over Étretat

The old houses of Étretat

The weather looks a lot nicer in the picture than it actually was - the sun shone, then it rained, then it hailed, then this loop began again

The sea is boiling

The 'beach' of Étretat

Honfleur

A sleepy sunday afternoon

Dusk

Half-timbered and brick buildings

Old half-timbered house (still inhabited)

The town hall (Hotel de Ville) and a carousel

Old houses by the marketplace

Whoosh (merry-go-round in a local fun fair)

4 Saisons

The famous port of Honfleur with the narrow and thin buildings

Honfleur at night

A less-visited residential area

Rappel

A nice place when the sun comes out

Riviera

Early morning in Marseille station.

Lonely bird watching the open sea in Monaco.

Underground train station Monaco, Monte Carlo.

Angler in Nice.

Sleeping Nice at night.

The train station of Nice.

Lonely man watching the sea in Nice.

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