Page 124 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - France

EXPERIENCE MORE

3 4 the place where Parisians
congregate at times of major
Pont Alexandre III Avenue des Champs- national celebration. The
Élysées famed Christmas market
 D3 ⌂ 75008 q Champs-  C2 ⌂ 75008 q Charles de normally held on the Champs­
EXPERIENCE Paris: Champs-Élysées and Invalides decoration of gilt and bronze The majestic tree­lined 5
Elysées-Clemenceau,
Elysées was relocated to the
Gaulle-Etoile, George V,
Invalides
Tuileries for 2018 and 2019.
Franklin D Roosevelt,
This is Paris’s prettiest bridge,
Champs-Elysées-
with exuberant Art Nouveau
Clemenceau, Concorde
lamps, cupids and cherubs,
Palais de l’Elysée
nymphs and winged horses at
“avenue of the Elysian Fields”
either end. It was built between (the mythical Greek heaven
 D2 ⌂ 55 rue du Faubourg-
1896 and 1900 to commemo­
for heroes), first laid out in
St-Honoré 75008 q St-
the 1660s by the landscape
rate the 1892 French–Russian
Philippe-du-Roule ¢ To
designer André Le Nôtre,
alliance, and in time for the
the public ∑ elysee.fr
forms a 3­km (2­mile) straight
Universal Exhibition of 1900.
Built in 1718 and backing
line from the huge place de
Pont Alexandre III was named
after Tsar Alexander III (father
la Concorde to the Arc de
onto splendid English­style
of Nicholas II), who laid the
foundation stone in 1896.
been the official residence of
saw it transformed into an
the French President since
The style of the bridge
elegant boulevard (pedestrian­
reflects that of the Grand
1848. Several occupants left
only on the first Sunday of
every month), lined with cafés
their mark. Louis XV’s mistress,
Palais, to which it leads on the
Right Bank, and the construc­ Triomphe. The 19th century gardens, the Elysée Palace has
Madame de Pompadour, had
and restaurants.
tion is a marvel of 19th­century The Champs­Elysées keeps the whole site enlarged. After
engineering. It consists of a a special place in the French the Revolution, it became a
6­m­ (18­ft­) high single­span heart. National parades are dance hall. In the 19th century,
steel arch across the Seine. The held here, and the finish of it was home to Napoleon’s
design was subject to strict the annual Tour de France sister, Caroline Murat, and his
controls that prevented the cycle race is always on the wife Empress Josephine. The
bridge from obscuring the Champs­Elysées. Above all, President’s Apartments are
view of the Champs­Elysées ever since the homecoming today on the first floor. General
or the Invalides, so today you of Napoleon’s body from de Gaulle gave press confer­
can still enjoy the views. St Helena in 1840, it has been ences in the Hall of Mirrors.
Dazzling Pont Alexandre III,
with its flamboyant
Art Nouveau decoration
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