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July 2005

Paris

Jeremy Koh
2005-11-05 12:16:49

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soldiers. The day before, I had just visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Rome. It really puts me in a contemplative mood. It makes me think about the senselessness of war and how so many lives were lost. Hopefully, there'll never be a World War III, but seeing how destructive Man is, I think it's inevitable. Oh well, let's not go there.

After deciding not to pay to climb the Arc (a decision which Prema regretted later on by the way), we walked down the tree-lined boulevard of Champs Elysees which also happens to be one of the most famous streets in the world. It took us past cafes, cinemas (Tom Cruise's War of the Worlds poster is everywhere!), and luxury boutiques like Louis Vuitton. Shopping's not really my thing so we didn't linger long except to grab some cheese sandwich (nice) and pop into music megastore HMV. As we walked on, eventually I saw a tourist booth, which was ubiquitous in Italy, but almost non-existent in Paris. Finally I got a nice map! Earlier we had been walking around based on the simple map in our guidebook. While we weren't exactly lost, the map in the guidebook only mapped out the larger streets and famous attractions, so we didn't dare walk down the smaller streets.

At some point, we turned right and we saw the Musée du Petit Palais with its blue dome and gold trimmings. However, it was closed for renovations though I doubt we would have gone in even if it were not. Up ahead is the Pont Alexandre III which many considered the most beautiful bridge in Paris. It is not hard to see why. It is lavishly decorated with sculptures of cherubs and nymphs and at the ends of the bridge, there are large gilded neo-classical statues on high granite pillars. On the right, there's a nice view of the Eiffel Tower, and in front, you can see the Hôtel des Invalides with the gold-plated Dôme des Invalides behind it. The Hôtel des Invalides was originally planned ...