Elysian Fields

Saturday morning I deliberately got up early to take the Métro to the Place de la Concorde in order to walk westward up the Avenue des Champs Elysées. The morning was chilly but sunny, and as you can see the sun was coming up just as I got to Concorde.

To the right of pedestal for Cleopatra's Needle you can see the Arc de Triomphe. That was where I was headed.

Looking back across the Tuileries toward the Louvre, the sun is sort of visible.

In Concorde, there is a huge Ferris wheel, apparently for the pre-Christmas holiday season.

 

 

Along the first part of the Champs Elysées, there is also a little winter village, of sorts, again in the Xmas mood. There are a series of little cabanas of varied sizes, alternating with some of the saddest little trees I've seen. I was there too early for any of these displays to be open, but they were decorated in suggestive themes.

I really liked this one: it had a family of department store mannequins dressed in winter wear replicating a family. I couldn't get a very good shot of it, but it was Christmas Creepy.

This little tree wore a ribbon on top that said Feliz Navidad: confusing. It was one of the few standing upright.

And this was what I was really after. After I walked all the way up, I veered off to Boulevard Haussmann to the Musée Jacquemart-André. This time I did see the exhibition of Van Dyke portraits--absolutely gorgeous--as well as the house/museum itself.

Pearl