Paris - The Arc de Triomphe

Alright, this is another famous landmark of Paris and is called the Arc de Triomphe (will be referred as ADT hence in this blog), a war memorial commemorating soldiers who fought for the French. It is not too unlike our own India Gate. Here too the names of the generals who fought for France are inscribed under the arch but mysteriously, there lies the grave of the unknown soldier and thats literally what it's called in French as well. Here's a picture of it...

Well, yeah.. its decent you think. But really whats so great about it? Nothing much about the arc itself... but arguably its location marks the most famous street in Paris. It stands on the western end of Avenue d' Champs-Élysées, one of the most famous roads in the world. And it marks the centre of surely the busiest and most famous rond pont (round tana) in Paris. Here's what it looks like (courtesy http://www.answers.com/)

And one surely cannot appreciate the beauty till they have mounted the Arc. Yes, there is an underpass through which people can reach the ADT and watch as traffic goes by in 5 big streets and 3 small ones all located wonderfully central from this point. And as you get there, you can see the tomb of the unknown soldier...

A ticket of 9€ buys you the way upstairs which is a spiral of 195 steps... And seemingly neverending. What makes it a tad worse is that its a single track route. So if you paused to catch your breath, etc. you might be holding up a lot of unhappy people ina claustrophobic setting. A poor kid who turned out to be asthmatic held us up for almost 5 minutes. But once you climb those 195 steps, you are in the museum. You have to hand it over to the Parisians. They've made everything accessible with / without the object of making the money. The Eiffel Tower... the ADT... everything can be reached into just by shelling out a li'l dough. And in here, you can see an exact replica of the arc itself, lit in white..

And there's a cast of the head of a figure from François Rude's sculpture "La Marseillaise" at the museum upstairs. Check that out -

Another short flight of steps later, you are out in the open and with a view worth every cent spent... Here are some shots from up there - The La Defense -

The Champs-Élysées with the Louvre at the far end-

The Eiffel Tower -

The Sacre Coeur in the far distance-

And here's one of the Arc by twilight-

Come Christmas time... the entire street is lit beautifully and the road lives upto its repuatation of one of th emost beautiful roads in the world... With cafés and stores lining both sides, bright lights strung on trees and the festive atmosphere, no many other streets stand in competetion at all.

Why should you climb the ADT?
Though you wouldn't expect the Arc at a height of a mere 50 meters to give you a great view, you are mistaken! Paris is surprisingly flat for being one of the most famous capitals in the world and at this height it is much easier to make out the landscape of the city. Amongst the many famous landmarks that can be clearly marked out by the naked eye, your camera's zoom or one of the many viewing kiosks are - The Eiffel Tower, The Sacre-Coeur, Hotel Les-Invalides, Musee du Louvre, the entire Champs-Élysées, La Defense and many many more... And anyone in their sane mind would agree that the view of the Eiffel Tower from the Arc is far superior to that of the Arc from the Eiffel Tower (and far more significant if you ask me). Next stop.. The Musee du Louvre.