Arc de Triomphe
The west side of the Arc de Triomphe.
Arc detail
A detail of the left-hand side of the previous shot.
The Unknown
A view of the eterrnal flame to France’s Unknown Soldier, and a view down the Champs. To get to the Arc, you have to talk an underground walkway. I guess we could have run through traffic, but we decided to take the tunnel.
The men in the uniforms were ushering people from the site in preparation for a military parade.
Arches
A side view of the Arc de Triomphe. I always thought it was solid between the faces, but they have these great arches between them. (For orientation, I’m facing south in this picture; I was facing east before.)
Parade flags
We walked down the Champs to where the parade was starting. We didn’t quite figure out what the purpose of the parade was. It was clearly militaristic, but I need to try and read the flags on the original photos for a better clue.
The Parade
A more complete view of what was going on.
Backup
The backup in traffic caused by the parade.
Southeast face
With all the stopped traffic, we took the chance to cross the street. I liked this view, so I stopped in the middle of the road and took this shot.