Aux Champs-Elysees

L'Avenue des Champs-Elysees is one of the most well-known streets in Paris. It's famous for its high priced, high class stores that line both sides. And of course, for the Arc de Triomphe at the end.

My friend Jessica and I spent a day wandering the avenue, window shopping (for the most part) and just admiring the chicness of everything.

Most of the stores along the avenue are pretty famous for being highly expensive (Louis Vuitton, Sephora, Toyota, Zara, etc). The funny thing is, considering their prices and the money they make each day, none of them really make much of a profit at the end of the day. Real estate is so high along the avenue that they pretty much break even once you factor in rent. It's crazy. Basically, having a store along the Champs-Elysees is just for the publicity and prestige of it. Not the money.

I'll highlight a few of my favorite stores we visited during our explorations.

Most important: the Disney Store! It was such a beautiful sight. Such a fairytale. And bonus, there was a Spiderman display in the window! How more perfect could it get?

We had to stop into H&M. What a wonderful store. Technically, I could go to H&M anytime back in the states, but I like the ones in Paris much better. The fashion is just a bit different. Anyway, the branch along Avenue des Champs-Elysees is gigantic! Multiple stories, stretching farther than you would think. I could actually get lost in there. I did make a purchase - the prices are not bad at all, another reason I like H&M.

For lunch we ventured into McDonalds. Yes, it had to happen sometime. This McDonalds is a bit more fancy than most. Actually, the famous golden arches outside the entrance are not gold, but white. Apparently the designers of the avenue decided the usual color was too tacky for the chic motif they had going on, so it was changed to white.
But design aesthetic aside, the food was pretty much the same. There were a few additions to the menu: new wraps and salads, and instead of regular fries you also had the option of potato wedges. Strange - different.

oh, fast food

Finally, we worked our way down the avenue to the Arc de Triomphe at the end. It was originally built by Napoleon in order to demonstrate all his victories in battle. The area is also known as "Etoile," which is French for 'star,' since the Champs-Elysees is one of 12 avenues circling the arc, making a star around it.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, symbolizing all unidentified soldiers who have died in war. The eternal flame is always burning (so they say, but on a windy day...)

Looking back down the avenue from the arc, you gotta appreciate the symmetry of it all:

And yes, the entire day the song "Aux Champs-Elysees" was continuously playing in my head. If you don't know it, I suggest you look it up - it's a pretty great song.

A bientot!