The largest public square in Paris at 21+ acres(8.5 hectares), Place de la Concorde lies between the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile and the Louvre Museum, connected by the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and the Jardin des Tuileries. Among many others, King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were guillotined here after the French Revolution. Just at the northwest end of the garden is a great spot to view the sunset with the Eiffel Tower in view. But I'm getting ahead of myself........
Before that, we were sitting at an outdoor cafe having lunch - it's about 60 degrees F, meanwhile it's 5 degrees F back home. It's Paris - the Rue de Rivoli - watching many of the "beautiful people" walk by because this is Fashion Week in Paris. No coat, no outdoor heater, in winter, the sun at my back, sipping a glass of wine and eating a bowl of fresh French green beans (haricots verts). The table next to us has two fashion designers from Milan/Paris/Brazil talking in breathless flurries of conversation - French, Italian, and English about the new fashion lines. We talked with them a bit about veganism and fur and leather and animal welfare and the fashion industry. A great time.
The cafe scene seems to bustle day and night even in winter. It is difficult to imagine how it must be in crowded peak summer tourist season.
And never too far away, the aroma of a freshly made Nutella crepe wafts by on the breeze. But I digress, back to the sunset......
The setting sun through a street lamp globe.
What a beautiful place to be on a colorful evening!
A compressed distance view down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile.
And as darkness falls, Parisians and visitors alike head into town for dinner, walking, music, dancing, clubs, cafes, whatever suits their fancy in the city of love and light.
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