Took my camera on a day trip by Eurostar just before Christmas 1999...  the Champs Elysées were being prepared for the big party, with themed Ferris wheels, and the trees all wrapped up.  Yes, there were photos of Sarah Michelle Gellar (star of "Buffy contre les vampires") everywhere!

I wanted to climb the Arc de Triomphe, but there was a demo going on.  This is France, after all.

Took in the Palais Royal, with the famous columns.  Kids love to play on them.

Nôtre Dame had recently had a face-lift ("un lifting"), and is looking very good indeed.  I liked these carvings in particular.

They've got a wheel in Paris, which may be smaller than the London one but at least it works.  It's also brilliantly situated in the Concorde, right at the end of the Champs Elysées.

And, because I'd just started Mick Farren's fantasy Jim Morrison's Adventures in the Afterlife (recommended, by the way), I had to stop off at the cimetière Père Lachaise.  Not sure what the Smurf is for.

Then I tried to do some Christmas shopping but it was madness and I went home...

These next photos are from a cold, cold break over new year 2002, just in time for the euro!

Let's start with the most classic of all Gallic symbols:

What I like about the Eiffel Tower is just the feeling of so much metal - and just at dusk, as they switch the lights on, this is really captured:

It's not usual to look at the tower from below, so here we go:

Check the queues, though!

A view from the peace monument in the Champ de Mars:

The queues were no better for the Louvre!

But not too bad for the Pompidou Centre:

At the entrance of the modern art gallery, this wonderful rhino!

Duchamp's Fountain:

And my favourite, Carl Andre's 144 Steel Squares. Not everyone seemed to appreciate it, though...

The Pont Neuf, all lit up for the occasion:

Beethoven at the Opéra:

Statuary in the Arc de Triomphe:

 

All images copyright ©Andrew Gilham 1999/2002, but if you want to use any, drop me a line! Higher resolution versions of these and other photos are available.