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Pix of the day – July 12

By Staff Report July 12, 2014 1 min read

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An In-Seine Historical Adventure:One of the world’s great cities, Paris is a profusion of sightseeing musts

On Franklin Street sits a bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin, the U.S. ambassador to France from 1776 until 1785.

Notre Dame Cathedral, left, was one of the first structures to use external supports called flying buttresses, which allowed thinner interior walls. The Arch de Triomphe, above, the largest arch in the world and Napolean's ode to himself, overlooks the Champs de Elysees.

Napoleon's stuffed horse stands in the Musee de l'Arme, the national military museum that's part of the Hotel Royal des Invalides, a former hospital and home for convalescing soldiers.

The Procope Restaurant, above, has been in operation since 1686 and was one of the first restaurants in Europe to serve a strange new beverage — coffee. Napoleon's hat, inset, adorns the entry to the restaurant.

Place de la Concorde is an historic site in central Paris where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were guillotined during the French Revolution. Now it is the site of the world's largest ferris wheel, The Big Wheel, and the 3,500-year-old Luxor Obelisk from Egypt.

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The Louvre Pyramid, built in the 1980s, was designed by Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei and serves as a main entrance to the Louvre, which houses the Mona, the Venus de Milo and many of the world's other masterpieces.

An original propeller from the Wright Brothers' Flyer is on display in the Musee de l'Arme, the national military museum.

Even the clocks are works of art in the Musee d' Orsay, located on Paris' Left Bank.

A plaque on a building identifies the location where Americans John Jay, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin signed the Treaty of Paris, which effectively ended the Revolutionary War.

The Gallic Rooster is a national symbol of France.

Napoleon's famous hat adorns the entry to the Procope Restaurant.

In Paris, you can walk along many lovely, tree-lined boulevards.

The Eiffel Tower, built in 1889 as the entrance to the Paris World's Fair, is illuminated with twinkling lights several minutes per evening hour.