Saturday 29 May 1999. Our day comes to an end after a somewhat exhausting day both in 1999 and several exhausting days in 2023 writing these articles!
The coach took us on a tour of Paris by night, although by this time it was not yet dark and as the drivers had to be up early to take us to Versailles on the following morning, most of the tour would be taken during twilight until the last stop which was a sight to remember. But there's other things to see first, including this - the Arc de Triomph. Now if anyone considers themselves to be a good driver, the place to test that must surely be the Place Charles-de-Gaulle at the top of the Champs-Elysée, where the Arc de Triomphe sits on an island amidst a maelstrom of whirling traffic and blaring horns. This is a roundabout with twelve(!) roads leading to it and where right of way belongs to those joining the roundabout, not leaving it! We were to go into the monument, but a scribbled notice informed us that the monument was "on strike"... We are looking at one of the side arches - the main archway is above us and behind us another arch like this. On the inside face, on the left, are the names of all Napolean's generals.
Through the massive arch someone flew a biplane in 1919, not the type of deed that the city would like to encourage and, apart from the obvious safety considerations, here is the reason why. Underneath the arch lies the French grave of the Unknown Soldier, laid here after the Great War in 1920. An eternal flame was lit in 1923 and is ceremoniously rekindled every night. In 1962 someone was arrested for frying eggs over it. Imagine if someone did that over our equivalent in Westminster Abbey... When we were there, gun-carrying sentries were posted on either side of the grave.
Although it was starting to go dark, the floodlights had not yet lit which was a shame. The lights are automatically controlled by a sensor that measures how dark it is. They came on just as the coach pulled away...
Before I got on the coach, I took this photo of the Champs-Elysée from the monument. The boulevard is lined with trees and many of the buildings have roof gardens. I must have caught a quiet moment in the traffic here as normally you would not have seen the street at all for the merry-go-round of Renaults, Citroens and Peugots!
By the time we arrived at the Eiffel Tower it had gone fully dark, affording a wonderful view of the tower from the terraces of the Palais de Chaillot. When first built the tower was the highest building in the world - only made practical by the invention of the lift ("elevator" for my American readers). 10,000 tons of iron were used and, because of expansion, the tower can grow by as much as 6 inches on a hot day! On the front of the tower, the display shows the number of days left to the new Millenium.
The terraces of the Palais de Chaillot were full of souvenir stalls, trinkets and baubles laid out for sale on rugs, hawkers demonstrating toy aeroplanes and stalls selling food and drink. The place was crowded and I had to pick my moment to get to the front of the terrace wall to be able to see the ponds and fountains below.
Back on the coach, we set off back towards Bougival and our hotel. Duh - there's that song again... Ain't no doubt we are here to party, (Boogie nights) Come on now got to get it started. Dance with the boogie get down. Cos boogie nights are always the best in town - As we made our way through the streets, the pavement cafes were still doing a brisk trade.
