Quote:
Originally Posted by Cirrus
And you may have heard, they have this too. Tourists are required to take at least one picture of the Mona Lisa or they must pay an extra tax at the airport.
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Lol.
You guys come back when you're retired. The NIMBY old town won't have changed, then you'll be touched and pleased to find it all the very same.
That's just some little sarcasm from me. Of course I wouldn't like the historic core to change too much, myself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cirrus
Back across the Seine, directly across from Invalides, is Place de la Concorde, where the aristocracy was guillotined during the French Revolution. The large obelisk is from ancient Egypt, and is the spoils of imperialism.
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Um, well, the obelisk was called a "gift", but you know, today the Egyptians must think it's been somewhat stolen somehow. So I think it's supposed to sometime go back to the Egyptian site it originally belongs to. Even the 2nd Luxor Obelisk had been given to (or stolen by) France, but former president Mitterrand gave it back to Egypt in the 1980s yet. I didn't even know about that before. That's what I just got from a quick search.
I'll admit that losing this one would be a pain. It is 3300 years old, the oldest landmark in town, and clearly more elegant than the guillotine it replaced. However, the Egyptians would certainly be glad to have it back. The problem is they might ask for more afterwards, like - give us back the Egyptian collection that's at the Louvre and actually belongs to us!
Not sure the French authorities would appreciate that...
Lovely thread. You've done it right.
