Champs Elysees Essay, Research Paper

Champs Elysees

The Champs Elysees is a beautiful avenue in Paris, connecting the place de letoile to the place de la Concorde. It is 1.17 miles long, and divided into two parts by the rond-point. The Champs Elysees is laden with hundreds of shops, ranging from fashion stores, to restaurants and movie theaters. It even hosts a couple of dance clubs. The Champs Elysees is host to the Arc De Triomph and the Place Charles de Gaulle.

The Champs Elysees,?Elysian fields? is Paris? most famous avenue. It is located on the right bank in Paris, downstream of the seine river. It?s lined with beautiful gardens and hundreds of chestnut trees aligned in a single row. Along the Champs Elysees is the rond-point, which is a greatly landscaped circle that has magnificent fountains and formal flower beds trimmed to look like one massive bouquet. At the western end of the champs elysees stands the arc de triomphe de letoile, which means, ?Arch of triumph of the star?. The emperor napoleon the first started to build the huge arch made of stone in 1806, and it was completed in 1836. The arch has seen some of Paris? proudest moments, and some of its more shameful and humiliating defeats, notably the German troops marching under it that had come to symbolize France?s glory and prestige is still painful to the French. It was built to commemorate napoleon?s victories. The Arch is the largest triumphal arch in the world, standing 163 feet high and 147 feet wide. The arch rises in the place de letoile, which means, ?Square of the star?, one of more than 130 public squares in Paris. Broad avenues extend from the etoile in 12 directions.

At the eastern end of the Champs Elysees is the place de la Concorde (Square of peace). This square was built during the 1700?s. Within it are eight huge statues, two fountains, and the 75-foot-high Obelisk of Luxor, a four-sided stone pillar from Egypt. During the French revolution (1789-1799), a guillotine stood in the place de la Concorde. The guillotine beheaded hundreds of people, including King Louis the 16th and Marie Antoinette.

The history of the Champs Elysees has been somewhat destroyed by today?s airline offices, banks, and extremely heavy traffic. The upper part of the champs elysees used to be host to luxury shops and hotels, restaurants and pavement cafes, however since world war 2 has steadily declined into a scene of fast food restaurants, garish movie houses, souvenir vendors, sidewalk hawkers, airline offices, and shopping malls. This is sad, since so many of Paris? memories are stored here in statues and artwork.

At the lower end of the champs elysees, the horses of marly frame the view down the avenue, and the park that extends from here to the rond-point is flanked by the grand and petit palais and the theatre de marigny.

The Champs Elysees has been host to many parties, and tons of celebrity showings. The Champs Elysees is world renowned for its beauty, and I highly suggest going to the Champs Elysees if you visit France.

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