La Part-Dieu is a neighbourhood in the 3rd arrondissement of Lyon, located around the Lyon-Part-Dieu train station. Beyond its importance as a major transport hub, La Part-Dieu is also the second-largest business district of France, with many office skyscrapers including Tour Incity, Tour Part-Dieu or Tour Oxygène. It also contains France’s largest shopping mall, La Part-Dieu Shopping Center.
Euromast is an observation tower in Rotterdam built in 1960. Its main observation platform is at 96m, while the Space Tower, a mobile capsule that takes visitors up and down the antenna, goes up to 185m. It offers a great view of the city.
La Grande Arche de la Défense is an office building in the business district of La Défense, west of Paris. After being closed for a few years, its rooftop was reopened to the public in 2017. It offers a good view of La Défense and the surrounding area.
Les Olympiades is a district of residential towers located in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Built from 1969 to 1974, the district consists of a dozen towers built along a large esplanade. A shopping mall, the Pagode, stands at the centre of the esplanade.
Downtown Montreal is the central business district of Montreal and houses the large majority of the city’s skyscrapers.
Above, view of Downtown Montreal and Rue Sainte-Catherine from my room at Hôtel des Gouverneurs.
After my meeting, I had a bit of time left in Frankfurt before taking the train back to Amsterdam. I walked to the Römerberg in the Old Town then looped back to the banking district along the Main River.
The Main Tower is a 200m skyscraper in the banking district of Frankfurt, in Germany. Its roof is an outdoor observation deck with a great view on the city.
In April, I had to be in Frankfurt for a meeting. I took an early train from Amsterdam (~4 hours) so I had time to walk around before my appointment.
In November, I had to be out of Pakistan in order to renew my visa so I decided to go to Dubai and spend a few days there. I had been previously to Dubai Airport but it was my first time actually visiting.
After I got off the plane and passed customs, I took the metro to the area known as Downtown Dubai, which contains the Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa and a lot of residential and office skyscrapers. At the mall, it was quite early in the morning so no stores were open yet. Then, after almost 2 hours since arriving, I finally emerged to open air near the basin that hosts the Dubai Fountain. I walked around the basin, taking many photos of Burj Khalifa, the highest building in the world. I then made my way to the observatory, just as it opened. I bought my ticket (~40€) and took the elevator to the 124th floor. The view was pretty good, although, unfortunately, there was nothing much interesting to look at while up there… I was surprised by how extended the city was: Even the Burj Al Arab was quite far away. After Burj Khalifa, I walked towards the Emirates Towers. There are pavements and even pedestrian signals but the area is not really designed for walking and it took me a long time under the hot sun to reach the towers. The walk passed next to very modern buildings and yet more were under constructions. After the Emirates Towers, I took the metro to the Dubai Marina, where my hotel was located.
