Arc de Triomphe

I had no language school Monday, so I decided to re-visit the Arc de Triomphe, which I'd only seen briefly during the quick car tour I took my first weekend here. It's at the center of this CRAZY roundabout, with like 4 lanes of traffic- I was nervous even being in the passenger seat when Marc, the father of the family for whom I'm working, was driving. I tried to get a picture but it doesn't do it justice! But anyway, when I got there, I was considering how best to brave crossing this chaotic mess of cars when I saw a sign directing me underground! Interestingly, instead of including crosswalks, there's a passageway that goes underneath the mess of cars.


















So while I had only intended to go across the street to see it up close, while I was walking underground, I saw a sign directing people where to buy tickets. I had no idea you could go up to the top! But since it was free for me (as have been all the museums, since technically I'm an EU resident under 26), I figured I might as well! It's 284 steps to the top (I know this because they had sign after sign, saying "This way to the 284 steps") but it wasn't bad. And the view from the top was worth it! You could see all the major landmarks of Paris in each direction. The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is right there, so I walked down for a while after I was done at the Arc (sorry, my camera died so I don't have any pictures!)