Arc de Triomphe

By Ang
If you would have asked me before I went to Paris to predict what one of my favorite things would be there, I never in a million years would have thought the Arc de Triomphe would be on that list. But it was.

A little history:
The Arc de Triomphe was completed in 1836 and sits on the Western end of the Champs Elysees. The arc honors those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. On the inside and top of the arc are all the names of the generals and wars fought. Underneath is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.

From the top there is a panoramic view of Paris, of twelve major avenues leading to the Etoile and of the exceptionally busy (to put it lightly) roundabout in which the Arc stands.

When we got off the metro, we took an escalator and when we emerged onto the street, there it was.


We had to cross the street to get to it, but thankfully there is an underground tunnel. We weren’t about to try to cross the scary roundabout.

Check out the amazing detail!

Here’s the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

There are 284 steps to the top in a spiral staircase.

Spiral staircases are everywhere in Paris. In fact, the only non-spiral staircases I seen were those in the metro stations. So we began to climb. Thankfully at the top before you go outside, there are places to sit and catch your breath. Because there is nowhere to stop on the way up. So if you have someone behind you, that’s too bad.

It was completely worth it though.

Here are some of the breathtaking views of the city:

Here’s the famous Champs Elysees
And this beautiful thing:

Here's the Sacre Coeur:

The traffic was highly entertaining. There are no lights, no lanes, no speed restrictions, anything goes.

It started off like this (not too bad):

And 2 seconds later it would turn into this:

Look at the little Smart Cars! Aren't they cute?

This is the business district of Paris, built to the west of the city. It’s called La Defense. See the Grand Arc? It lines up exactly with the Arc de Triomphe.


We watched the sunset and then headed back down the stairs.

I think it was a combination of things that made me love it so much – it was a beautiful night, we came at exactly the right time to watch the sunset, it was entertaining watching the crazy traffic, and you just can’t get better views than that. I will never forget it!