Place de la Concorde (5)

On Monday, Ryan, Judy, Beth, and I went on a walk through the government center of Paris. Out of respect for the the French state (which means: mostly out of fear that the guards at these public buildings would take me for a terrorist if I took a lot of pictures) the first part of this walk is photographically undocumented.

We strolled around this area, easily within walking distance from the Louvre, and saw buildings like the Palais de l'Elysée, the official residence of Monsieur le Président de la République française, currently Nicolas Sarkozy.

The central attraction of the walk was the Place de la Concorde. This open square is quite central to Paris, just west of the Tuileries garden. Before the French Revolution, the square was called Place Louis XV, but such a royal title was abandoned with the fall of the monarchy. "And great was the fall thereof": Louis XV's grandson, Louis XVI, was actually guillotined here on 21 January 1793.

Today, the more politically neutral Egyptian obelisk that Napoleon brought back from his conquests stands in the middle of the square:



From the Place de la Concorde walk, we wandered over the the Tuileries garden, my personal favorite part of this walk. Since the day was overcast, though not terribly cold, there were fewer people in the park and we were able to find chairs by the large central fountain and just relaxed for a bit.

I hope it's not too lazy of me, but that was my favorite part of this walk (and the Palais Royal walk, too) - relaxing in a park, rather than important government buildings. I love that there are so many refuges like this in Paris - a park, no matter how small, full of trees and flowerbeds and benches and fountains... I so prefer that to staring at rock walls, even those in the Haussmann style. If only I could get someone to play disc with me here... Any volunteers?