We dropped by Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe for a short photo session on our way back from the Seine cruise tour to our hotel.
Arc de Triomphe at night
If I was given the time, I would have climbed my way to the top, which I heard has an excellent panoramic view of the city, especially on the famous Avenue des Champs-Élysée.
Too bad it was our only visit to Arc de Triomphe; we had only a short stay in Paris and the famous monument was not the tour’s priority.
The Arc de Triomphe was commissioned in early 19th century to commemorate Napoleon’s victory at the Battle of Austerlitz, but only completed decades later; Napoleon was already dead before its completion.
Today, the arch honours those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars, and also includes the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the monument.
The Paris Arc de Triomphe is the most famous of its kind, but the largest Arc of Triumph is in Pyongyang (North Korea), which was built in 1982 and was deliberately built to be larger than the Paris one.