Paris, Champs-Élysées (Empty)

(2 photos)
On Sunday July 24, 1983, we left the campsite at Maisons Laffitte (a suburb of Paris) at 8:40 in the morning and drove into Paris. What a drive. So many twists and turns — these little towns near Paris originally had no connection to each other, but they have just growed, and growed, until they more or less meet, but not too well.

We drove through Paris suburbs, and through the La Défense area, and on to the Arc de Triomphe. There we found police barricades blocking our way, so we parked and walked to the Champs-Élysées and found it empty — a sight not often seen. The police were towing off the last car or two still parked in the area.

They are getting this part of the city ready for the finish of the Tour d’ France (a famous bike race), scheduled here this afternoon. They expect hundreds of thousands, or even a million people will see the last part of the race. We then drove and parked and walked and drove some more, just like we always do in this fascinating city.

Later in the day other major streets in the city were closed to auto traffic, so we never could get close enough to see the speeding bicycles. Early afternoon we rode the elevator to the 59th floor of Tour Montparnasse, from where we could see the whole city and the tremendous crowds, but not the bicycle riders.
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This is a view of the busy Champs_Elysees.