Arc de Triomphe

I think I woke up this morning and took my stupid pills instead of my smart pills. I wanted to book a dinner reservation at the place near the L'arc de Triomphe so I walked over and took care of that part of the day. Then decided to do a photo shoot of the L'arc and then walk down the Champs-Elysees and take pictures all the way down to the Palace Royal. Unfortunately about half way down I ran out into the street to get a picture from the middle of the road and on my return missed a step and fall hard onto the sidewalk. I'm OK, nothing broken or anything like that but I know have a huge scrape on the side of my face and look like I was did in by the gypsies. Needless to say I did not finish my walk and came home instead to clean up and to gather myself.

The worse of all I had decided to bring my really good D3x camera instead of the lighter D7000. The camera itself is ok and I think the lens is ok as well but the protective UV lens that you put on when buying a new lens was smashed. I also couldn't remove it since the side was dented in and impossible to screw off. So I found a Nikon store and took it in for repair and hopefully they can fix it. It will take a week but it is better to let them try to fix it instead of myself. My worry is that they might be able to get the UV lens off but since the side of the lens was dented they may not be able to put a new one on. The lens itself seemed to work including the auto focus etc so it will still be useable but if I can't change filters it will take away the ability to take certain photo's. We'll see but to repeat other than my ego I'm perfectly fine and have learned a lesson.

The Arc de Triomphe is one of the most famous monuments in Paris rivalling the Tour Effiel. It stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle at the end of the Champs-Elysees. The traffic circle around the Arc is crazy. I counted 12 vehicles across at one point. Tried to get a picture which showed this mess but needed to be up higher to get a better perspective. Visitors can go up to the top of the Arc and if I do then I could get a really good picture.

The Arc honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. It has the names of all French victories and the generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. You can see these in some of the pictures. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I and the eternal flame.

The Arc de Triomphe is the linchpin of a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route which goes from the courtyard of the Louvre, to the Grande Arche de la Défense. The monument was designed by Jean Chalgrin in 1806, and its iconographic sculptures pit heroically nude French youths against bearded Germanic warriors in chain mail. The pictures of these turned out great.

Life is good ... enjoy

Battered and bruised Auto Guru in Europe.