Arc de Triomphe and More

Today we went to see the Arc de Triomphe which was amazing, the views from the top were great of the Paris city and the Arc itself is quite a lovely monument, here are some pictures,

The traffic that try and cross the round about surrounding the arc I think take their life into their hands. There are no marked lanes and bikes, motorbikes, cars and buses etc all just go for it and it seems to be the boldest gets there first. I hope we do not have to drive through one of these round about on our way out of Paris when we pick up the car.

We then walked down the Champs Elysees which has all the major brands of everything there for sale, including sports cars, clothes and jewellery etc. We did have lunch at one of the restaurants just to say we were there but that was the extent of our spending on the street.

We walked through the Place de la Concorde where Marie Antoinette was guillotined and along with Louis XVI.

We walked along the Seine River and the Pont De La Concorde, the river is so busy with both commercial vessels and tourists boats.

Then we walked through the Tuileries Gardens which was lovely but it is so strange to see parks with only cream coloured gravel instead of grass, there are a few grass patches but these are not for the public only for viewing. So by the end of the day you have really dusty shoes and pants as this is a really common thing in most public areas.

We saw painting from Monet and Renoir along with many other painters at the Musee de L'Orangerie. The Water Lilies by Monet.

Painting by Renoir.

Also Picasso.

We kept walking to the Musee du louvre and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel.

Passed the L'Opera de Paris on our way to the Galeries Larayettes the famous department store.

Can you imagine shopping for you clothes etc in this building, it is absolutely beautiful with a stainglass dome at the top. Also check out how you can buy you herbs and spices from the store.

I also wanted to share with you how the locals who live in Paris where there is no room to have a car have a system where they hire bikes ride to the next bike station they want to go to and park the bike there and then walk to their location.

Then we headed home after having walked about 15km so it will be early to bed again.