Day 7 – One sweet day: Louvre, Tuileries Garden, Concord, Grand Palais, Petit Palais, Avenue des Champs-Élysées & Arc de Triomphe


Today was a big day. With our Paris 4-day Museum Pass in hand, it was time to do some serious site-seeing. The goal was to get from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe before dinner. Could we do it?


Our first stop was coffee. My online research pointed me in the direction of Telescope Café, a superb little spot just a couple short blocks north of the Louvre.

The barista was a pro – our drinks were prepared with great care, and we could taste it. Marvelous!

Around 8:30, we lined up at the Louvre, marvelling at the sheer size of the museum. The Louvre is one of the largest museums in the world, and is housed in a former palace, dating back to the 12th century. The iconic glass pyramids were added in 1989. The building itself is a work of art.

I could easily do an entire blog about artwork in the Louvre. The museums houses 35,000 pieces from prehistory to the 21st century in an area of 60,600 square metres. Every corner you turn, there is another masterpiece to marvel at.
I had many many favourites, including some of the gallery's most famous works.
The Winged Victory of Samothrace

Venus de Milo

And Mona Lisa herself, tucked away behind glass in the Denon wing. (She gathers quite a crowd for only being 30" x 21")

Here's a closer look:

Here are some other less-famous pieces that grabbed my attention:
The Raft of the Medusa by Géricault

This amazing double-sided piece Daniele da Volterra: The Battle of David and Goliath

Antonio Canova's Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss

Borghese Hermaphroditus

Dying Slave by Michaelangelo

Rebellious Slave by Michaelangelo

And many other beautiful marbles sculptures - so impressive.

Walking through the Louvre was like walking through an art history book. As an artist, I felt so privileged to get the opportunity to see so much important work. It was an experience I will never forget.

After about 3.5 hours in the museum, we were exhausted - and hungry! We found a nice lunch spot (I had the biggest omelet of my life!), and then we found another coffeeshop I read about: Cafés Verlet.

This tiny shop has been in business since 1880, and we could feel the history surrounding us. The server was super friendly, and the coffee was sublime.

After coffee, we set our path: from the west end of the Louvre to the top Arc de Triomphe - about 4km. This is the view from the Louvre - if you look under the middle archway (of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel - a smaller monument), you can see the larger Arc de Triomphe in the distance.

The first stop along the way was Tuileries Garden. In a space about the size of 2 football fields, the park is filled with beautiful fountains, ponds, sculptures (by Rodin, Maillol, et al), and plenty of flowers, including fields of lavender.

To the west of the gardens is Place de la Concorde, a major public square who's most prominent identifier is a massive Egyptian obelisk. Perhaps more notably, this was the original site where many public figures were guillotined during the French Revolution, including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

This shot below was taken from the eastern tip of Champs-Élysées. In the distance, our final destination:

An unexpected detour was Le Grand Palais and Petit Palace. The buildings were so impressive that I insisted we take a look. The Grand Palais is a large historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex. Unfortunately, it was closed to the public this day, but the facade was impressive enough.

Directly across the street, the Petit Palais is a museum which has a huge collection of paintings and sculptures.

It had a beautiful circular courtyard in the back where the sunlight poured in, illuminating the intricate mosaic work.

Halfway to the Arc, we were now in the centre of Avenue des Champs-Élysées, "the most beautiful avenue in the world". It is also the site of Europe's largest military parade, which happens every year on July 14th, Bastille Day.

This boulevard is home to some of the biggest Parisian fashion houses, and has some of the most expensive real estate in the world.

After checking out a few shops, we reached our destination. Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (built between 1806 and 1836) honours soldiers from the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, and is the fulcrum of 12 major avenues in Paris. Beneath the Arc is the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier", with an eternal flame burning in memory of the dead who were never identified from World War I and II.

To access the Arc, we had to take an underground tunnel (to bypass the insane traffic circle), enter the monument (skipping the line with our Paris Museum Pass!), and ascend a dark, narrow spiral staircase up the 284 steps.

The panoramic views from the top were unbelievable. We could see all 12 avenues radiating from the traffic circle, and really get a sense of the strict urban planning and inner geometry of the city. Incredible. Here is a view facing east, along Champs-Élysées, towards the Louvre:

And the view west facing La Défense, Paris' major business centre, home of the iconic Grande Arche monument (visible in the distance).

Inside the Arc de Triomphe was a stunning over-sized replica of the head from François Rude's The Departure of the Volunteers (La Marseillaise), one of the four main sculptures on the outside of the Arc.

We descended the spiral staircase and headed home. We were, understandably, quite exhausted from seeing so much in one day, so we took some time to unwind and look at photos from the day. That evening, we took in a free concert at République (ironically, it was a British band named Bastille - they were amazing!), and then we called it a day. Paris is amazing.

p.s. There was so much to see at the Louvre that we went actually back a second time on the evening of Day 9. For the sake of continuity, here are a few more shots taken at the Louvre that night, taken at sunset.