DAY 3
CHAMPS ÉLYSÉES
DAY 3
CHAMPS ÉLYSÉES
| A last look back at Notre Dame from a bridge over the Seine. |
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| The Prefecture de Police. I looked, but I did not see Inspector Clouseau anywhere. |
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| A little street lined with plant stands and whatnot. It is a flower market, but in November there weren't many flowers to be had. |
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| The Palais de Justice. Mostly courts and such, but it contains the Conciergerie, a former prison where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned before having her head lopped off on the guillotine. |
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| A cloudy day on the Seine. |
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| I saw this laughing babe in her bra all over the city. |
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| I had a crute poulet (a chicken sandwich which I apparently asked to have toasted) and a jus de pomme (apple juice) for lunch. The stupid thing about this was that I asked the woman behind the counter if she spoke English (Parlez-vous anglais?). She said yes, but then I didn't speak English for the rest of the transaction. |
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| A walk along the right bank of the Seine. |
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| A statue of Henrici Magni. I have absolutely no clue who Big Henry was, but apparently he could ride a horse. |
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| The Seine again, with the Eiffel Tower in the distance. |
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| One of the many newsstands around the city. As you can see displayed they have magazines for all the important subjects like arts, science, business and naked women. |
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| A statue of Charles de Gaulle. |
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| A view from the central median of the Champs Élysées toward the Arc de Triomphe. |
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| A view from the central median of the Champs Élysées the other direction toward the Place de la Concorde. |
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| I love to see American culture in the heart of snooty France. The Disney Store on the Frenchest of all French streets. Unfortunately it was as I made my way up the street toward the Arc de Triomphe that I was in the most pain on the trip. Every step was agony. I would have lost a race against octogenarians. Or crawling babies. Or slugs. |
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| The Arc de Triomphe. Believe it or not the French used to triumph militarily. Then again it is going on a couple of hundred years old. From 1940 until 1944 there was a large swastika flag flying from it. So much for triumph, eh? Well they were able to eventually take it down, with a little help from their friends. |
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| Names of French generals who did something one time or another. Famous names like Grouchy, Hatry, Pully, Hardy, Tilly, Bastouol and Dampierre. Wait, weren't they the seven dwarfs? |
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A plaque in the ground is text of one of the
most famous speeches in French history, de Gaulle's Appeal of June 18, 1940. It was broadcast from the BBC in
London to the French people days after the Nazis marched into Paris. As much as we think they are weak and spineless and they think we are stupid and aggressive, we should never forget de Gaulles words in this speech: "For France is not alone! She is not alone! She is not alone! She has a vast Empire behind her. She can align with the British Empire that holds the sea and continues the fight. She can, like England, use without limit the immense industry of United States." It would be nice if each country would remember that our existences depended on the help of the other at one time, ours during the Revolution and theirs during a couple of world wars. |
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| The guy who had the thing built, Napoleon. |
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| The French tomb of the unknowns and eternal flame. No Bangles were seen in the area. |
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