Travelsmartplanet

.

Fun sculpture of high heels in Vadaz, Liechtenstein.

Tags: art, city, city view, CostSaver, Europe, heels, high heel shoe, high heels, If the shoe fits, Liechtenstein, metal, metal sculpture, our, photo op, sculpture, sculpture art, shoe, sights, sightseeing, tourist, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger, Vadaz, Walk in Someone Else’s Shoes

.

This ornate 18th-century church was built over a 12th-century predecessor.

Tags: 12th century, 18th-century, built, century, chapel, church, CostSaver, Europe, gilded, gold, Lucerne, luzern, ornate, Peterskapelle, predecessor, sights, sightseeing, St. Peter's Chapel, St.Peterskapelle, Swiss, Switzerland, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger

.

Gletschergarten Lowendenkmal is massive heartrending stone relief which was carved to remember the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution when defending Louis XVI. Swiss Guards were and are famous as brave sentries. Today, they still surround the Pope. When the revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris, more than 800 were killed during the fighting, after surrender, or died in prison of their wounds. 300 lucky survived because they were with the detachment which King Louis XVI had sent to Normandy to escort grain convoys. Two surviving Swiss officers went on to become senior ranked guards for Napoleon.

In 1880, Mark Twain had this to say about it ” His size is colossal, his attitude is noble. His head is bowed, the broken spear is sticking in his shoulder, his protecting paw rests upon the lilies of France. Vines hang down the cliff and wave in the wind, and a clear stream trickles from above and empties into a pond at the base, and in the smooth surface of the pond the lion is mirrored, among the water-lilies.

Around about are green trees and grass. The place is a sheltered, reposeful woodland nook, remote from noise and stir and confusion ­and all this is fitting, for lions do die in such places, and not on granite pedestals in public squares fenced with fancy iron railings. The Lion of Lucerne would be impressive anywhere, but nowhere so impressive as where he is.”

Tags: attitude, base, brave, broken, carved, city, clear, cliff, colossal, convoy, CostSaver, defending, detachment, died, escort, Europe, famous, fancy, fenced, fighting, France, French, French Revolution, Gletschergarten Lowendenkmal, grain, granite, grass, guard, hang, impressive, iron, killed, King Louis XVI, lilies of France, lily, lion, Lion of Lucerne, Louis XVI, Lucerne, lucky, luzern, Mark Twain, massacred, mirrored, monument, Napoleon, noble, nook, Normandy, officer, palace, Paris, paw, pedestal, place, pond, Pope, prison, protecting, public square, railing, ranked, Revolution, revolutionary, senior, sentries, sheltered, shoulder, sights, sightseeing, smooth, spear, stone, stone relief, stream, surface, surrender, survived, surviving, Swiss, Swiss Guard, Switzerland, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger, tree, trickle, Tuileries Palace, vine, water-lily, wave, wind, woodland, wound

.

In the Louvre, one of the largest paintings at 33 ft. x 22 ft. was unsurprisingly commissioned by Napoleon himself of his 1804 coronation. His official court painter Jacques-Louis David, created a Facebook of French politicians, Napoleon’s family and, of course a selfie of the painter himself.

Tags: art, art history, artwork, commissioned, coronation, court, Europe, Facebook, family, France, French, historical, Jacques-Louis David, landmark, Le louvre, Louve, Louvre, Louvre Museum, master, masterpiece, Musée du Louvre, Museum, Napoleon, official, painter, painting, Parix, politician, selfie, sights, sightseeing, the Louvre, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger

.

This monument on the side of the Opera de Paris is dedicated to its architect, Charles Garnier. We loved the idea of putting the seating plan front and center.

Tags: architect, Charles Garnier, CostSaver, dedicate, dedicated, Europe, France, Garnier, landmark, map, monument, Opera de Paris, Palais Garnier, Paris, plan, sculpture, seating, seating plan, sights, sightseeing, theater, Theatre, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger

.

Aha, so that’s where the prince had Cinderella’s glass slipper made! (at Swarovksi)

Tags: art, Austria, Cinderella, cinderella slipper, collection, CostSaver, crystal, crystal collection, crystal slipper, Disney, disney magic, Disney moment, Europe, fairytale, glass slipper, Innsbruck, Prince, prince charming, Princess, royal, shoes, sights, sightseeing, slippers, sparkle, sparkly, Swarovski, Swarovski Crystal, Swarovski Crystal World, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, travelblogger, Wattens

.

Elton John’s crown made by Swarovski crystal.

Tags: art, Austria, celebrity, collection, CostSaver, crooner, Crown, crowns, crystal, dynasty, Elton John, Europe, Innsbruck, King, Museum, royal, royalty, sights, sightseeing, singer, sir elton john, sparkle, star, Swarovski, Swarovski crown, Swarovski Crystal, Swarovski Crystal World, swarovski Kristallwelten, Swarovski museum, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, travelblogger, Wattens

.

Death becomes her when she’s made out of crystal.

Tags: art, artist, artistry, artwork, Austria, collection, collector, CostSaver, crystal, crystal collection, crystal scupture, crystal skull, cystal art, death, design, Europe, Innsbruck, landmark, sculpture, sights, sightseeing, skull, sparkle, Swarovski, Swarovski Crystal, Swarovski Crystal World, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger, Wattens

.

World over it’s known as the Opera de Paris however it does have a real name, the Palais Garnier named for its architect, Charles Garnier, and was built from 1861 to 1875. It became even more famous because of Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera and, especially because of the later adaptations in films and the popular 1986 Broadway musical. It is as much a symbol of Paris as Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, or the Sacré-Cœur Basilica.

Tags: adaptation, architect, Basilica, Broadway, Charles Garnier, CostSaver, Europe, famous, film, France, Garnier, Gaston Leroux, landmark, Le louvre, Louve, Louvre Museum, Musée du Louvre, musical, Notre-Dame Cathedral, novel, opera, Opera de Paris, Palais Garnier, Paris, Phantom of the Opera, Sacre Coeur, Sacré-Cœur Basilica, sights, sightseeing, symbol, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger

.

Notre-Dame Cathedral is a architectural masterpiece and you really need to walk around the outside of it to appreciate it all. It was begun in 1160 and completed by 1260. Just think about how long ago that was and here it still stands so magnificently; What are we building today that will last that long? This medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité in Paris is still widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture with its innovative use of the rib vault and flying buttress, the gargoyles and the enormous and colorful rose windows.

Tags: architecture, building, buttress, cathedral, Catholic, colorful, CostSaver, Europe, exhibit, famous, flying, flying buttress, France, French, French Gothic, gargoyle, Gothic, Île de la Cité, innovative, landmark, masterpiece, medieval, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, rib vault, Rose, sights, sightseeing, tour, tourist, Trafalgar, travel, travelblogger, vault, window