Today we find ourselves in the 8th arr, the first time we've been on the Right Bank since the 4th. If you recall, for the most part the Right Bank is characterized by being comparatively more modern, spacious, chic, wealthy, and business-oriented than the Left.
The 8th embodies kind of high culture and fashion that a lot of people think of with Paris. It's beautifully laid out, with wide boulevards, lots of centralized squares and roundabouts, Haussmann buildings, and top notch fashion and luxury stores. Walking around here you get an overall idea of sophistication and a "unified urban landscape."
I talk so much about the physical layout and architecture here because there is such a large difference between strolling around in a place like this (not my picture - in the Marais):
and a place like this, Boulevard Malesherbes in the 8th:
Anyway, the history of the 8th lies almost entirely in the 19th century, and nearly everything you would see here was built in the mid to late 19th century. It is the epitome of the bourgeois class of Paris during this time: Haussmann's reconstruction of the streets of Paris he started here, because it was where all the newly rich middle classes lived. They wanted wider streets for their large carriages, wider sidewalks for ladies' dresses, more modern and aesthetically pleasing roads, and no old-fashioned cobblestones. There is very little here that is historically significant aside from its role in Paris' modernization.
Today it's easily the largest of Paris' central arrondissements, and as of the last census had more jobs than any other one but was one of the least densely populated. So this is an area, like the 2nd arr, where a lot of people work but few live.
The 8th is home to many places of interest. First and foremost of course, is the Champs Elysees. That world renowned street runs for a bit over a mile on the southern bank of the 8th and has an important landmark at each end. On the west side is the Arc de Triomphe (not my picture):
While very famous, not a lot of people know what it actually is. It's a monument to those who died in the French Revolution and Napoleonic war, a tribute to Napoleon's victories, and more recently the main Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for the country.
On the west side is the Place de la Concorde, my personal favorite spot in Paris! This was formerly known as the Place Louis XV, the Place de la Guillotine during the Revolution, the Place de la Revolution post-revolution, and now is the aforementioned name. So did you catch that? Place de la Guillotine. This is in fact the infamous spot where the aristocrats were beheaded during the Revolution, with the guillotine placed symbolically at the end of the grounds of the Louvre palace and in the center of the city.
More about this circle in a later post.
In between those two monuments is the Champs Elysees, possibly the most famous street in the world - and historically often described as the most beautiful. Just for fun here are a couple of historic pictures of it, the first from 1891 and the second from 1944, with General de Gaulle's victory parade.
And here it is today (not my picture).
It is now more or less an American-based shopping mall. I try to avoid it whenever possible, except at Christmastime. Every year the big Bastille Day parade goes up the street to the Arc de Triomphe.
There are a few notable buildings along the Champs Elysees, including the Elysee Palace, France's White House. Not far from there are the Grand Palais and Petit Palais, which were never inhabited palaces, both built for the 1900 Universal Exposition, and now are art museums. (Not my pictures).
Grand Palais:
Petit Palais:
Moving northward from the Place de la Concorde, which you can see in the background here, you can go up one of the lovely wide boulevards...
to the Madeleine, a huge church built in the early 19th century in Neo-Classical style. I talked about it a bit here.
It is immense. La Madeleine, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Pantheon exemplify the Neo Greek/Roman architectural fetish that Paris had in the 19th century - taken nearly wholesale from those traditions, and brought about because the French Empire under Napoleon really believed itself to be the next Roman Empire.
Anyway, the areas around La Madeleine and the Arc de Triomphe are the places for high fashion and luxury in Paris - and therefore the foremost in the world probably. You can see pretty much every haute couture designer in one of those areas, every exclusive jeweler/watchmaker, etc. The types of stores where they intimidate you from going in if you're not dressed accordingly.
In the north of the 8th is the most fashionable of Paris' many train stations, the Gare St Lazare (don't ask me how a train station can be fashionable - I think it's mostly by virtue of its location). And next to that is this monster of a Neo Byzentine/Neo Gothic church, St Augustin. It's so large I couldn't get it in one picture.
Here is one, not mine obviously
In my opinion it's not terribly attractive, and the inside is not that remarkable. For being such a new church it's very dark and gloomy. Definitely the most notable thing for me was that it has wooden floors - the only church I've been to here that does, and it made my boots embarrassingly loud!
Finally, the last part of the 8th I want to show is the Parc Monceau, a lovely and little known park, and it appears to be the only one of its type on the Right Bank. It really should be more appreciated by tourists.
It's an odd place, but I'll talk more about it in a later post. For now, just a few pictures.
I like the 8th arr quite a bit, despite its air of exclusivity and pretentiousness. It feels more comfortable to me than the 7th for some reason. They're similar in many ways, but I like that the 8th mostly wants to just revel in its culture and fashion; I suppose it seems more open. Anyway, although there are huge tourist spots here, like the Champs Elysees, there are also some little-known gems like the Parc Monceau. There are a lot of things to see here and it makes a nice few hours of exploration.
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