Paris - France (Day Four)

I am so tired, but needless to say it was another awesome day. I will update this blog tomorrow back in Gent, Belgium. Today I visited The Arc de Triomphe L'Etoile {ahrk duh tree-ohmf' duh lay-twahl'} a triumphal arch in Paris commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 patterned after those of ancient Rome and dedicated to the glory of his imperial armies.

The started out with me arriving at the top of the hill of Chaillot, with the Arc de Triomphe at the center of a star-shaped configuration of 12 radiating avenues, to view this incredible monument. I refuse to do stairs unless necessary so took a ton of pictures around the base of the Arc de Triomphe. I got close up shots of the art work, something that is lost but a memory to great artists of two centuries ago.

The structure was designed by Jean François Thérèse Chalgrin (1739-1811), completed in 1833 and inaugurated in 1836 by the French king, Louis-Philippe. Its deceptively simple design and immense size, 49.5 m (162 ft) in height, mark it unmistakably as a product of late 18th-century romantic neoclassicism. The arch also serves as a reminder that Chalgrin was a pupil of Etienne Louis Boullée, the father of visionary architecture. The most famous of its sculptural reliefs is La Marseillaise (1833-36) of François Rude. Specific historic associations notwithstanding, the arch has become an emblem of French patriotism.

Since 1920, the tomb of France's Unknown Soldier has been sheltered underneath the arch. Its eternal flame commemorates the dead of the two world wars, and is rekindled every evening at 6:30.

At the bases of the Arc's pillars are four huge relief sculptures, commemorating The Triumph of 1810 (by Cortot); Resistance, and Peace (both by Etex); and The Departure of the Volunteers, more commonly known as La Marseillaise (by François Rude). On the day the Battle of Verdun started (1916), the sword carried by the figure representing the Republic broke off from La Marseillaise. The relief was immediately hidden to conceal the accident, so that it would not be interpreted as a bad omen.

Engraved around the top of the Arch are the names of major victories won during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. The names of less important victories, as well as those of 558 generals, can be found on the inside walls.

I then walked down the Avenue des Champs Elysées, where I did a little souvenir shopping and stopped and had lunch at Jardin Des Tuileries. The Tuileries Garden covers about 63 acres (25 hectares) and still closely follows a design laid out by landscape architect Andre Le Notre in 1664. His spacious formal garden plan drew out the perspective from the reflecting pools one to the other in an unbroken vista along a central axis from the west façade, which has been extended as the Axe historique.

I then dragged my aching feet back to take a second cruise down the Seine and back again. A good way to finish off my adventures in Paris.

Got an early start in the morning at 6.00 am all because I wanted to save a few Euro's!!