From the top of the Arc, you can see the Russian Orthodox Church, Parc Monceau, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, the Organs of Flanders, the Church of St. Augustine, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the Tour Hertzienne de Romainville. You can also find the beautiful Sainte-Trinité, the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, the opera house, pantheon, the Sorbonne, Notre Dame and about a dozen more high profile locations.

Click on both of these to open them in a new tab:

The front of the Church of Saint-Pierre-de-Chaillot on Avenue Marceau. This version of the church was first built in 1740, but the parish dates back to when this street was a village outside of Paris. (We’re in the heart of Paris, by the way.) The village dates back to the 11th century.

Here’s the Palais Galliera. It opened in 1895 and, since 1977, has been a fashion museum. It was willed as a state collection, then became an industrial art museum and then home to works from mid-20th century contemporary artists.

A few more shots of the tower from various angles:

I walked back over to the carousel to take a few pictures of my favorite items there:

The horses were decorated with real horse hair.

Oh, look! The sunlight changed. No one has this picture:

Crossing the Seine as they were cruising down it:

Looking up the Eiffel Tower’s skirts, as it were:

One of the horses guarding the Eiffel Tower, with the Tricolour from the museum in the background:

This is at the train station, as we were waiting to leave. It was one of my favorite pictures of the day:

I have occasionally made the “last train out of Paris” joke. We were on the last train out for the night:

A cut of lamb I had for dinner on the train. The server pronounced it for me several times. I wrote it down phonetically. I have no idea how you really spell it, though, so I’ll keep it to myself. Point being, I had dinner on a train.

My traveling companion:

Since we walked 10 miles in Paris today — all in the afternoon, really. We saw some great stuff, too, which is why my afternoon in Paris is being divided into several posts. Enjoy.

We had a heavy snack at Boulanger Patissier on Ave Kleber at Rue de Longchamp. We were sitting on a corner just three blocks from the Eiffel Tower and maybe four from the Arc de Triomphe.

I don’t know about you, but I just don’t think about this sort of thing in terms of “Maybe one day I’ll … ” On those odd and rare and fortuitous moments that something unusual and unique happens, they just happen. And then later in the day or week I’ll look back at this thing. “We did that.”

Perhaps it is more organic that way. If we played a day in Paris and said “And then we’ll have a snack at an outdoor cafe, and eat too much cheese and watch the locals smoke,” that would just seem contrived.

Wouldn’t it?

Anyway, most everything on Ave Kleber looks like this. Here are three photos to prove the point:

And, suddenly, there we were, at the Arc, where they’re flying the tricolour. The monument honors those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, with the names of French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. There is also vault of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. The monument is 164 feet tall, 148 feet wide and 72 feet deep. It was the world’s tallest triumphal arch until 1938. This is the view from Av des Champs-Elysees:

It sits on an island, a very busy piece of traffic furniture. To get to the monument you have to go underground. When you are under it you see messages like this:

Some of the work on the inside:

The next two pieces are seen on the other side of the Arc, as you’d see from Avenue de la Grande Armee.

This is La Résistance de 1814, commemorating the French resistance to the Allied armies during the War of the Sixth Coalition which finally defeated France and drove Napoleon into exile on Elba:

And this is La Paix de 1815, which commemorates the Treaty of Paris:

This one is in the attic, some 230 stairs up, which is part of the unknown soldier monument:

Nearby is this monument of World War I:

Also upstairs was a fascinating photo display of World War I uniforms. The artist, Antoine Schneck shot and produced the authentic clothes and equipment in such a way that each individual aspect is in focus. There is no blurring anywhere, so you have a terrific 2D-quality representation of the real thing. This is merely a picture of that work, so you’ll just have to go along with me here. But to see this 1918 uniform of the 2nd Battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division (and of the 17 other multinational examples) is almost like seeing the man wearing it in front of you. The American men that wore this equipment fought in Verdun, Chateau-Thierry, Bois Belleau, Saint-Mihiel and during the Meuse-Argonne offensive.

The view from the top of the Arc:

Some of The Yankee’s students:

As we walked back through the tunnel, leaving the island the Arc is on, we met these men. The gentleman on the left is wearing the French Legion of Honor around his neck.

And here we are, leaving the Arc.

In the next, and final, post from Paris I’ll include two panoramas from atop the Arc. Be sure to come back to check those out, and much more!

We walked 10 miles in Paris today. Ten miles. And almost all of that was in the afternoon because we had various travel problems.

There was an unhealthy mass of people at the train station in London. (We were the last people on board an already-late train.) We arrived at the first station in France and they blocked off the platform we needed because of a suspicious package. We found a Plan B.

Plan B involved five of the nine people in our group getting on one train and the other four of us not making the train. So I had a nice chat with those people about how they needed to hurry up, and pay attention to something more than their phones. Be good little geese and get on the train.

A list of other things happened that shook every confidence that the group would be able to make original evening rendezvous, so we changed our plans. The Yankee and I were supposed to take a bike tour, but of the seven people with us I expect maybe three could have stuck with the previous plan. So we called an audible, right there under the Eiffel Tower, and we walked a lot. Ten miles! We saw some great stuff, too, which is why my afternoon in Paris is being divided into several posts. Enjoy.

First of all, we saw this brilliant ad in the London Underground this morning:

These are the tickets you use to ride the trains in Paris. There are 10 in a pack and the challenge is to not lose them:

When we finally got to downtown Paris the exit from the subway was about a block and a half from the tower. This is one of the early views:

And, after a day here, I can tell you that Paris in the springtime might be as lovely as everyone says. Now, some more shots of the Eiffel Tower. A guide told me you can see the 324-meter-high from about 30 miles away on a nice day:

Now, we’ve just crossed the River Seine:

And that’s a perfect place for a merry-go-round:

These next pictures come from beneath the Musee national de la Marine. Go to this statue and turn around for the best shots of the Eiffel Tower:

See?