Oh, Champs-Elysees!

What trip to Paris would be complete without a march down the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe? Not mine, clearly.

Taking Rue Royale south to the Place de la Concorde and hanging a droit brought me right to the Champs-Elysees within minutes; the trek the Arc is about a mile, and it ends in Place Charles de Gaulle. The Champs-Elysees continues west northwest from there, except that it is called Avenue de Grande Armee, after Napoleon’s forces that actually brought the French a few victories. Who’da thunk it, eh? Incidentally, at the end of Grande Armee is the Grande Arche, supposed to be the modern Arc de Triomphe, but actually not an arch at all, but a big square. I still think it’s cool.

The Arc itself was erected as a monument to Napoleon’s victories, the localities of which are each etched in stone. To his credit, there are quite a few. There is also some very intriguing, albeit rather arrogant, statuary mounted on the sides of the Arc in Napoleon’s honor.

And lest I forget the east side of the Champs-Elysees, the Place de la Concorde, the site of the guillotine during the revolution and the execution grounds of such notables as Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and Robespierre, abuts the Jardin des Tuileries, and from the Arc de Triomphe, looking east offers a beautiful view straight down to the Louvre. Furthermore, the Egyptian obelisk that now resides in the center of the Place is said to be Paris’ oldest monument.

Also along the Champs-Elysees, and among the many other things of note, are the Grand Palais, the Petit Palais, and Fouquet’s, one of the oldest restaurants in Paris. Fouquet’s was, in fact, Hitler’s headquarters during the one time he managed to take a visit to Paris.