September 6 -- Arc de Triomphe, et Angelina

.

The Arc de Triomphe sits in the middle of an enormous traffic circle. Twelve roads end at the circle, many of which, like the Champs Élysées, for example, are Very Big (five lanes in each direction).  I'm not sure how many lanes are supposed to go round and round, but ... lots.

Neither of us had been out to the Arch itself, so we decided to figure out how to get there.

Distracted for a moment.

Ok, attention now refocused on the Arch.

We asked, in the metro station, and learned there is an underground walkway. We found it, traversed it, and arrived here.

You can see two of the twelve roads which end here.  The one on the left *may* be the Champs Élysées....

One side of the Arch faces the Champs Élysées, and the other looks toward la Grande Arche de la Défense, which, according to Wikipedia, occupies part of the space outlined by a nearly-perfect (Very Large) cube, and houses government offices.  This is a distant and hazy pic -- the sides and top are building, and the middle is empty, nearly. I gather that the structure inside the cube is the elevator shaft.  One can see Paris on the way to the roof....

Part of one side of the arch, avec la Tour Eiffel.

Looking from the Arch down the Champs Élysées toward la Place de la Concorde. You can see the obelisque between the trees at the end of the line.

Having come back through the underground walkway, we are now walking down the Champs Élysées.

Note Cartier at left -- the Champs Élysées is lined with exceedingly ritzy stores ...

... interspersed with tacky souvenir shops.  Something for everyone, perhaps.

More harem pants.

An interesting modern building.  We weren't sure what was where, inside, but we caught a glimpse of someone walking down stairs that seemed to be in one of the sticking-out spaces.

We have reached la place de la Concorde.

Looking across the river Seine to l'Assemblée Nationale -- home of the lower house of France's bicameral Parliament.

The Champs Élysées ends at la Place de la Concorde. We dodged over to la Rue de Rivoli, which is the non-river side of le Jardin des Tuileries and the Louvre. Angelina is across the street from the Tuileries.



I learned my lesson in Bayonne -- when you are in a place that specializes in hot chocolate, you get the hot chocolate, even if you do not care for the American version of same.

The pitcher is full of *absolutely delicious* hot chocolate.

Mmmmmmmmmmm.

It was so rich (even without the whipped cream!) that we couldn't finish it.  I dumped my water bottle in the bathroom sink, and we took the last of the chocolate back to the hotel with us, so we could savor the last drop.  It was still very good, even when room temp a couple of hours later.

Lovely.



A look at the interior of Angelina.  We had to wait in line a short while, and as we were able to walk up the stairs, we were seated on the balcony.

Should you find yourself wandering down the Champs Élysées, do stop in and indulge yourself at Angelina.

See what my daughter has to say about Angelina here.




Something else we did not purchase.  Does anyone actually want these?

Many of the Paris Metro stations are embellished in gorgeous art nouveau.   Jardin des Tuileries behind the fence.

That glass building is where les Halles (Paris's biggest open-air market) used to be.

Another peek at le Jardin des Tuileries, before we descend to the Metro and go back to the hotel for the evening.

(ed note: I am finding it very tantalizing to glimpse all of these places I did not get to see -- l'Arche de la Défence, les Halles, le Jardin des Tuileries. Must go back..........)

See my daughter's take on this excellent day here.



In order to facilitate chronological traverse of these posts, here is a link to the post that comes after this one.

.