Along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées
Today we went to check out the Louvre. We didn't really expect to go in, but apparently the crowd was even larger than normal because today was free admission. Rather than wait around for a few hours, we decided to come back later and just explore the area. Luckily, there's a bunch of interesting stuff between the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe.
For starters, the Louvre is huge - just a colossal building that seems to stretch on and on. The building itself is also quite beautiful and intricate.
We continued on through the park in front of the museum, which was very nice and large. At the end of the park's grounds was what I discovered later was called the Luxor Obelisk . It was apparently given to France by the Egyptians in 1829. They literally just cut it down and gave it to France. How times have changed.
We continued down the avenue toward the Arc de Triomphe and decided to stop by McDonalds for lunch. It was quite a zoo inside, with no clear order; it just looked like everyone was mobbing the cashiers. They had people out in the crowd to take orders ahead of time so that you just needed to pay and grab your food went you reached the front, so it kept things functioning at least. I took full advantage of our location and had a beer with my Big Mac, which pleased me to no end. Here I was on the Champs-Élysées, a few hundred meters from the Arc de Triomphe, eating a Big Mac with a beer. Can't complain.
Since Augusto's wife had arrived yesterday, we decided to go back to the Arc de Triomphe and go to the top this time, where we had another great panorama of the city. All the major roads in the vicinity of the arch converge there, so it was really cool to be up high in that position. It really felt like you are at the center of the world.
Tomorrow is back to work, but what an awesome weekend!
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