Paris - Arc de Triomphe

We stayed at the Hotel Cadran, in the 7th Arrondissement, by the Eiffel Tower. A young hip hotel, it took us 10 minutes to figure out the light switches. Once we did the light switches were cool. The trick was that your room key-card had to be in a holder on the wall for the lights to work. That way you can not leave your lights on when you leave the room. Very good energy policy. The hotel had great help. On our second night the person at the front desk arranged for our dinner at a wonder local restaurant, Leo le Lion.

After dinner on our first night we went to the Arc de Triomphe.

From Arc de Triomphe

Our Museum Pass gave us entrance to the top. So we started walking up the 284 steps. Looking back down at Trish, the pain in my legs made the world blurry.

From Arc de Triomphe

Once at the top, the view down the spiral staircase made me dizzy.

From Arc de Triomphe

I could not hold my camera straight!

From Arc de Triomphe

But the pain, the ache, was worth every strained muscle. What little breath I had left, the view took away. Truly beautiful and breath taking.

From Arc de Triomphe

From Arc de Triomphe

After some time on the top we went back down to the base and walked around.
The eternal flame for the unknown soldier marked a somber memory to the sacrifices made for all military triumphs.

From Arc de Triomphe

From Arc de Triomphe

From Arc de Triomphe

The Departure of the Volunteers of '92, commonly called La Marseillaise, by François Rude, shows a very animated France, rousing her people for the fight. Actually the metaphorical France looks deranged, and really, only the French would march to war naked.

Afterwards we went to the Lido for a cabaret act. We had half-price tickets that came with our transport tickets. Ahhh, what can I say about this show. It was fantastic that the tickets were half price. How much do you applaud for a woman who lip syncs and entire performance? There was an amazing muscle man act, and an amazing mime act by Jerome Murat. Actually the mime was our favorite, and almost worth the price of the ticket. Here is the act in a video on YouTube. At the Lido it looked much better. We were in the front, very close, and just could not believe the illusion at the end.

Oh, and there were many women dressed in feathers...
On the whole I would compare it to going to a cheesy Luau in Hawaii.