 | Paris Champs Elysées Reviews | Tips 1 - 10 of 211 |  |
 | |  |  | Champs Elysées: Les Champs-Elysées | Tip Rating:   |  |  | |  |
The glamour of the Champs-Élysées, particularly its upper end, may not be quite what it was, dominated as it is by airline offices, car showrooms, and bright, light shopping arcades. But there's still the Lido cabaret, Fouquet's high-class bar and restaurant, and plenty of cinemas and outrageously priced cafes to bring the punters in. At Christmas this is where the fairy lights go, and on December 31 everyone happily jams in, in their cars, to hoot in the New Year.
The new landscaping project has removed the avenue's side lanes where cars used to prowl in search of parking spaces, and now pedestrians have an equal share of the avenue's width, with shade from more trees. cultural centers, deluxe hotels and other activities that participate in the tradition and prestige of the Champs-Elysees are encouraged to return by the municipality.
The stretch between the Rond-Point roundabout - whose Lalique glass fountains disappeared during the German occupation -and Concorde is bordered by chestnut trees and municipal flower beds, pleasant enough to stroll among, but not sufficiently dense to muffle the squeal of accelerating tyres. The two massive buildings rising above the greenery to the south are the Grand and Petit Palais, with their overloaded Neoclassical exteriors, rail station roofs and exuberant flying statuary. They house a number of museums and the Grand Palais is the address for major cultural exhibitions, curtailed at the moment due to major restoration works.
On the north side, combat police guard the high walls round the presidential Elysee palace and the line of ministries and embassies ending with the US in prime position on the corner of place de la Concorde. On Thursdays and at weekends you can see a stranger manifestation of the self-images of states in the postage stamp market at the corner of avenues Gabriel and Marigny.
How to get there
Metro line 1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 12 or 13: Charles-de-Gaulle-Étoile, GeorgeV, Champs-Elysées Clemenceau, Concorde
RER A : Charles-de-Gaulle-Étoile Leave a Comment Address: http://www.champselysees.org/
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| | | | Champs Elysées: Don Giovanni at the Champs-Élysées | Tip Rating: | | | | |
The opera I saw at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées was Mozart's Don Giovanni, and it was a festival of voices with world-class singers including Lucio Gallo and Anna Bonitatibus, both of who have given gala performances in Frankfurt, and Patricia Ciofi, whom I had seen on television but never live.
The setting in this production was a somewhat seedy little seaside town in present-day Spain or Italy, with Don Giovanni as a somewhat pimpish local potentate. What really impressed me was the ending, in which stage director Andre Engel managed to combine the last two scenes (I've never seen that done before). And after all these many years (this opera is 219 years old, after all) he even came up with a surprise ending.
Shall I tell you what it is? After the final jubilation chorus about how he got what was coming to him, Don Giovanni emerged unscathed from the flames, dusted off his dapper three-piece suit and stood there with a triumphant smirk on his face as the curtain fell.
Second and third photos: The audience in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
Fourth photo: View at night from the Place de l'Alma, just a short ways from the theater. Leave a Comment Address: 15 Avenue Montaigne - 75008 ParisPhone: 01 49 52 50 50Directions: Métro Alma-Marceau Bus 42, 63, 72, 80, 92 Website: http://www.theatrechampselysees.fr/
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| | | | Champs Elysées: Théâtre des Champs-Élysées | Tip Rating: | | | | |
This theater is not on the famous Avenue des Champs-Élysées, but is several blocks from there near the Place de l'Alma on the right bank of the Seine. This is a very swanky district of Paris, in fact the whole neighborhood reeks of money.
Of all the opera venues I went to this was the one with the highest percentage of men wearing suits and ties, maybe 35 or 40 percent. These looked to be high-powered business types who had come directly from their air-conditioned offices in their air-conditioned chauffer-driven automobiles. But the theater itself was not adequately air-conditioned, so it was amusing to watch some of these chaps (not all) finally give in and start taking off their jackets and loosening their ties.
The theater is unusual in that it is only 93 years old, having been built in 1913. It is said to be one of the few major examples of Art Nouveau in Paris. The stage is small and has little in the way of fancy machinery, so to change sets that have to lower the curtain and play a scene or two in front of it while armies (evidently) of stage hands change everything around by muscle-power, not without all the old-timey thumping and thudding sounds that you don't hear any longer in modernized theaters where everything is done by hydraulics or electricity.
Second photo: Looking up at the façade.
Third photo: Looking southwest along the Avenue Montaigne past the entrance to the theater.
Fourth photo: Stage entrance.
Fifth photo: Opps, there's only one man wearing a suit and tie in this photo. So you'll have to take my word for it that there were more inside. Leave a Comment Address: 15 Avenue Montaigne - 75008 ParisPhone: 01 49 52 50 50Directions: Métro Alma-Marceau Bus 42, 63, 72, 80, 92 Website: http://www.theatrechampselysees.fr/
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| | | | Champs Elysées: People all over the place... | Tip Rating: | | | | |
... is what you'll find at the Champs Elysées, the big street in the middle of Paris center. In the beginning, when you just have left the park where the Louvre is, the street isn't anything. Just a couple of trees and benches.
But after a couple of hundred meters the shops and pubs starts to show up, and at the end you'll be full of impressions from your short walk up from the park to the Arc de Triumf.
And please, have a seat at one of the bars, take a beer, relax, look at all the people around you. And maybe speak to some of the beautiful girls at the table next to you...
And then, please again, don't get too chocked when you pay the beer, and understands it's the most expensive beer you have ever been drinking in your whole life...
It was at this street the french celebrated the victory in the WW1, the liberation in WW2, and the victory in the World Cup in football 1998... :) Leave a Comment Directions: 3-400 metres from the Seine and the park of the Louvre.
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| | | | Champs Elysées: 'Popular Avenue' | Tip Rating: | | | | |
Yes, this is a broad avenue in the heart of Paris. I visited this famous street twice and had the chance to experience what my friends told me not to miss. It is a very touristy place and the busiest street I have ever seen in Paris so far. Busy in the sense that you can find almost everything in here. Restaurants & cafes, cinemas, auto displays, specialty shops and brand name luxury stores like Cartier, Lacoste, Nike, Guerlain, and Louis Vuitton to name a few. I sat, I walk, got hungry and eat. First time we went, we had light meal at McDo and the second day we had lunch at a little bit expensive restaurant with Pasta & Pizza.
I would recommend that when you visit Champs Elysees, you may want to spend the whole day by visiting other adjoining tourist attractions. Aside from the too many shops and cafes along the avenue, you may go visit the Arc de Triomphe which is situated at the end of the Camps Elysees at the centre of the Place de l'Etoile.
Paris is a city in my Top 5 list to be visited more than once. It is number one with Rome, Cyprus, Jerusalem, London on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th post respectively.
It was a wonderful experience at Champs Elysees. For sure you will not miss the avenue. If you are in Arc de Triomphe and ready to go, just follow a flock of people and tourist alike walking towards this renowned street. Please remember when you are in Paris...Champs Elysees! Address: Vue du 133 Champs-Elysees AvenueDirections: Situated between Place de la Concorde and Arc de Triomphe Metro (M) *Champs-Elysees-Clemenceau (M1) *Franklin D Roosevelt (M1) *George V (M1 *Charles de Gaulle (M1, RER A)Website: http://www.champselysees.org
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