9.12.2012 Paris, France (Day 1)

We arrived in Paris in the afternoon. Our hotel turned out to be at a fantastic location - a 5-minute walk from three different metro/RER stations and a 15-minute walk from the Eiffel Tower. It's located on a pedestrian-only road called Rue de l'Annonciation, which has bakeries, fruit & meat markets, a wine shop and cafes. Very very Parisian. Oh, there's also a McDonald's right at the street junction. 

Walking to the Eiffel Tower, we actually saw an old, but very fashionable, lady walking her tiny dog, the very stereotypical image people have come to associate with Paris. Too bad the dog wasn't a poodle.

Eiffel Tower

This photo is good enough to be a postcard, right?

So pretty.

I tried reserving tickets online back in late August/early September but because one of the elevators was under repair, the online tickets were backlogged until November (!!!) And given the many TripAdvisor posts about the lengthy waiting times; 3-4 hours to get to the second level, then another 3-4 hours for the top, we decided that our time could be better spent elsewhere.

Even the roads are remarkably picturesque.

Arc de Triomphe
After visiting the triumphal arcs of Rome, I wasn't sure if the Arc de Triomphe would live up to its majestic predecessors. What I didn't know was its sheer size. What it lacked in history, the Arc of Triomphe certainly made up for it in dimension - it is thrice the size of the Arch of Titus, in both height and width.

Located in a traffic circle, the Arc de Triomphe faces the world-famous Avenue des Champs-Élysées.

Avenue des Champs-Élysées - "The most beautiful avenue in the world."

 

Umm.. what's there to say? The avenue is certainly nice-looking, but I'm not sure I would call it "the most beautiful in the world." I didn't walk the entire length so maybe I missed out but overall, it was too commercial for my taste. I saw stores like H&M and Sephora. Purportedly Gap and Abercrombie&Fitch also have stores on this piece of prime real estate.

I did notice that most of the luxury stores have attendants ready to open the door for potential customers, which is a nice touch. I have always thought stories of daily line-ups for certain luxury brands to be an exaggeration. Well, guess what? Here's the line waiting outside Louis Vuitton, half an hour before closing time. Glancing inside, it was "Recession? What recession?". Pure pandemonium. Bags and leather goods were just flying off the shelves. Scary. I would hate to be the person in the way of a shopper and a coveted bag. 

Eiffel Tower at Night

There. Are. No. Words.