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Published: April 1st 2008
Continued from previous blog...
So I titled this blog "Champs-Ely-what?" because for the life of me, I can not seem to say "Champs-Elysees" I always seem to butcher it and it sounds more like "Champs-Elyzays." Plus since we walked the entire Champs-Elysees, I figured this seemed like an appropriate title.
Ok, so I had to break up today into two separate blogs. There's just too many pictures and stories to tell to put all into one blog.
So anyway, we jumped off the subway, with the crazy singers, at the Arc de Triomphe stop. When I last visited Paris in December 1999, this was previously my favorite monument. (Although now, my favorite monument is Notre Dame Cathedral)
Well, upon exiting the subway underground, we had to ride a long escalator up into the street. And as we were rising up out of the ground, so did the Arc. "It's like a sunrise," I told Jay. Because it just got larger and larger as we went up the escalator. Although we were out of the underground area, we were still across the street from the Arc. The only way to get over to that area was to walk into
Arc de Triomphe
statues on the sides of the arcan underground tunnel which goes under the street, then you exit right onto the Arc (since it is literally in the middle of the busy street) So that is what we decided to do. And of course, the underground area was beggar central...again!
A woman immediately comes up to us with a paper in her hand "do you speak English?" it read, then it continued on to say she was blind, deaf, gassy, whatever and asked for us to spare money... uh....NO! We walked away from her. (This happened at Notre Dame too, although I think I forgot to mention that in the other blog) And right as we're about to exit the underground tunnel, I see some guy eyeing us, "oh no a bracelet guy," I thought to myself, and I was right. He walked right up and tried to grab Jays arm with some yarn in his other hand. This time we were more aggressive and kept walking on. But not before Jay says, "I'm gettin' tired of this shit." Gotta love him, lol. Hey, why should I pay for some dumb "bracelet" which I DON'T even want in the first place?
Luckily that was our last
modern Paris
This is the other end of Paris beggar experience we encountered for the day (and the rest of the time we were in Paris) and it was only like 3 pm. So, I was able to take some pictures of the Arc. I had originally wanted to climb to the top, but it was crowded and it was extra money and my feet felt like they were going to fall off. I just wasn't up for it to climb the 284 stairs. That Arc is massive though, and beautiful. I cant get over how many amazing buildings and statues are all over Paris, all over Europe for that fact.
Well, as much as my feet began to hurt, we trecked on. We decided to walk the entire Champs- Elysees to the Louvre. Even now, thinking about it, I cant believe we walked that entire way. But what better way to explore a city than to walk it, taking in the sights?
The Champs-Elysees is a famous avenue with many expensive shops and restaurants aligning the streets, as well as it is the happening place to be. People roller skating by us, riding bikes, walking dogs. Who knows how long we walked for, and we past
numerous adorable parks along the way. I stopped and said to Jay, "we never got to see the Seine River." "Yes we did," he replied, "from the bus." "But I want to see it and take more pictures," I said. So we made a detour from the Champs, past some other awesome museums and walked right up to the Pont Alexandre III. The bridge is gorgeous aligned with gold statues, and is a perfect view overlooking the Eiffel Tower. I kept being corny and telling Jay, "should I get out the umbrella?" See, weeks prior to our trip I told him I was going to walk up and down the Seine River with my umbrella out having him take black and white photos of me. "Just like in the movies!" I said, to emphasize on the nerdy-ness of the situation. I even told him I would upload a "French" song onto my ipod so it would add to the moment. But I never did get out my umbrella. It wasn't raining and way too many people were nearby, how dumb would I have looked??
Although I did take some more black and white photos, just not with the
Eiffel tower
this was taken from the Arc, but you can see the Eiffel Tower in the distance umbrella!
Anyway it was on to the Louvre, we passed the Place de la Concorde and took some nice pictures and walked through the Jardins des Tuileries, which is a park prior to walking to the Louvre. The Jardin des Tuileries is Paris's most central garden. It connects the Louvre with the Place de la Concorde.
I said to Jay, "when I think of Paris, this is what I think of." There was a marvelous water fountain and children were playing with sail boats in the fountains, people were sitting in chairs that aligned the large fountain conversing with one another, small outdoor crepe shops outlined the area, and there were beautiful green gardens with colorful flowers everywhere. I only wish I had taken more pictures of the wonderful garden. There were no beggars, there were no intense crowds of tourists, there was no graffiti, the only action that was happening was people truly enjoying their cool winter Parisian day. I know that seems corny, but it was like a movie moment, amongst the many more that were to come.
To be continued...
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