français friday

Voici L'Arc de Triomphe:

(yeah, i know it looks like hubby's head is photoshopped in, but we were *really* there...)

The Arc de Triomphe is a monument in Paris that stands in the centre of the Place de l'Étoile at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. It is the linchpin of the historic axis leading from the courtyard of the Louvre Palace, a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route leading out of Paris.

It stands over 51 metres in height and is 45 metres wide. It is the second largest triumphal arch in existence. Its design was inspired by the Roman Arch of Titus. The Arc de Triomphe is so colossal that an early daredevil flew his plane through it.

Laying the foundations alone took two years, and in 1810 when Napoleon entered Paris from the west with his bride Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, he had a wooden mock-up of the completed arch constructed.

Beneath the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the First World War. Interred here on Armistice Day, 1920, it has the first eternal flame lit in Western Europe since the Vestal Virgins' fire was extinguished in the year 391. It burns in memory of the dead who were never identified, now in both World Wars.


It is grand, ornate, exquisitely detailed.
Hubby was touched by the sense of history and beauty here.

I was buzzing to be at the top of The Champs-Élysées: which, incidentally is also called La plus belle avenue du monde, French for "The most beautiful avenue in the world."
Oui, oui, we agree..