After much cajoling, Fernando made the obligatory pose. :)
We then walked toward the "little arch."
L'Arc de Triomphe de Carousel, the "little arch" built to commemorate Napoleonic victories.
From the little arch, we walked into le jardin du Carrousel for some self-portraits, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Fernando strategically stood in front of a statue of a naked woman. Yeah, pretty much all the statues and carvings are of naked people--the art of the day.
Then it was on to le jardin des Tuileries. Even in September, this was just the prettiest garden! Don't you just love the colors?
Le Jardin des Tuileries, looking back toward the Louvre.
We came upon an ornamental pond, and stopped to rest (my back and Fernando's knee--us old folks lol!) and enjoy the water and fountains.
Fountain in the ornamental pond at le Jardin des Tuileries.
It's always time for a self-portrait! (Love my camera's timer!!)
Once we felt rested, we continued our walk into place de la Concorde to admire the Obelisk.
The Obelisk, place de la Concorde.
From there, we walked to les jardins des Champs-Élysées and enjoyed all the flowers and greenery.
Les Jardins des Champs-Élysées.
Our walk took us on the road between le Grand Palais and le Petit Palais. I thought le Petit Palais was much prettier. :)
Le Grand Palais.
Le Petit Palais.
Our wonderful "walking tour" book took us through this little garden, tucked away in a corner behind le Grand Palais, hidden from the hustle and bustle. It was very quiet, with stone walkways, arches, and ponds and brooks weaving throughout. Such a little garden, but so enjoyed by us!
Le Jardin de la Vallée Suisse. This charming garden is tucked away behind le Grand Palais, and boasts stone walkways, arches, and bridges, and a little brook babbling its way through.
At that point in the day, we were both very hungry. We continued our walk onto avenue des Champs-Élysées with the intent of finding a restaurant along the famous avenue at which we could dine in style for our 25th. We passed by the first, since I couldn't understand their posted menu, and it looked too contemporary for us. We stopped at a second; I could read the menu, so we went right in and were seated. Our server handed us our menus, and then we noticed the name of the restaurant:
Restaurant Louis Vingt-Cinq.
How neat is that, for our 25th anniversary? Sweet! And the food was good--we took two hours to eat our three-course meal (entrée--appetizer, plat--main dish, and dessert--dessert!). Part of that was the service was very slow. But we think that was normal--Europeans take a long time to eat; they love the conversation and time spent just as much as they love to enjoy their food.
Dessert was crème brulée waffles with pistachio ice cream.
Our final destination lay at the end of the avenue:
L'Arc de Triomphe.
Here's the iconic view from the top of the Arc:
Time for photos! I tried to get the Eiffel Tower in the shot, and then I tried to teach Fernando how to take a picture with my awesome camera. He did a great job, too!
I'm just as goofy as Fernando is.
We had an awesome and amazing anniversary--the best ever. :)
Back to life,
Christine
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Looks like a great anniversary. I love the photos of you too. Glad you both know how to have fun. :)
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