October 4, 2001 : Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysees, Musee d'Orsay
So today became Arc de Triomphe and Champs-Elysees day. First stop was the Arc,which was built by Napolean Bonaparte as a tribute to all his soldiers thatdied in his wars... It's got carvings on all the legs of the arc -- I likedthose! The view from the top was also quite good -- even better than the EiffelTower, coz this time I could SEE the Eiffel Tower, and also get a much moreclose-up view of the city, instead of from 1000 feet up! So that was verynice... the only part I did not like was I had to climb up about 200 steps toget to the top. But I'd get used to this kind of thing by the end of thetrip...
Next was a stroll down the Champs-Elysees..... this was nice. Just "nice". Ihad been dazzled too much in the last couple of days, so I needed a small breakbefore being dazzled again! haha.. it wasn't too long of a break.. This wasalso the day where I had my first "expensive" meal in a "good" Parisianrestaurant, complete with a glass of wine and a slice of double-layered whitechocolate pudding cake, with a thin layer of strawberries in the middle, andpieces of oranges and grapefruit all along the sides to add a tangy flavor...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
It was still quite early by the time I reached the other end of theroad (about 2 miles from the arc).. so I strolled over to the Seine river andacross it, heading to another museum -- Musee d'Orsay.
This was an old railway station converted into a museum... so the buildinglooks like a railway station. Inside are a lot of sculputres and artwork by VanGogh, Cezanne, Rodin.. I wasn't too impressed with many of the pieces inhere... (needed a break from being dazzled). But the building itself wasfantastic! So ... I liked the building more than the art inside it.
That museum took about 1 hour -- mainly because I rushed through it. After thatI took the metro to another museum -- Musee Rodin. But that was closed by thetime I got there..... So, after a lot more walking, I was back to the hotelbefore sunset.
Arc De Triomphe:
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 Tomb of Unknown Soldier (WW1) |
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 Eiffel Tower through the crack! |
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 Champs-Elysees behind me |
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 Montmartre in the distance |
Champs-Elysees: (The 3 night pictures are from my last night in Paris: I had gone there for dinner on my last night)
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Musee d'Orsay:
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