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Etoile, Paris - General Information

Pre-eminent among Paris’s famous tree-lined boulevards, the Champs-Élysées sweeps south-eastward from the Arc de Triomphe towards the Place de la Concorde. Bustling, vibrant and imperial in scale, with a luxe atmosphere, it gives little clue to the fact that the literal translation of its names is “Elysian Fields,” referring to the kingdom of the dead in Greek mythology. Composed of elegant facades along both sides, it boasts an impressive formal unity, which suggests that it was all planned and built at the same time. In fact it represents the vision of successive Kings, Emperors and post-Revolutionary Heads of State, each one trying to eclipse the legacy of his forebears with ever more impressive architecture.

When the Parisians have something to celebrate, they tend to converge on the Champs-Élysées. They thronged here just after the Liberation in May 1944 to laud the returning General de Gaulle and filled it again in 1998 when France’s soccer team won the World Cup. It is also here that they celebrate Bastille Day and cheer on exhausted cyclists completing the Tour de France. For these reasons the Champs- Élysées forms the main part of a 9 kilometre axis, stretching from the Louvre to La Defence, that is known as the Voie Triomphale.

Once the boulevard was the playground of the haute bourgeois. They built its most handsome townhouses and their mink-swaddled women walked poodles up and down it, frequenting exclusive cafes and theatres. The splendid buildings remain, but today they are occupied by airline offices, hotels and the flagship stores of brand names like Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Zara and Emporio Armani, while the haute bourgeois have moved to the quieter 17th arrondissement. To the casual eye it can all seem dauntingly exclusive. But there are more populist names, like Virgin, nestling amid those of the designers. Look closely and you’ll also see that the insanely expensive cafes left over from the era of the beau monde – like Le Fouquet’s – sometimes deign to rub shoulders with such home-grown fast food outlets as Brioche D’Oree, which are far more cheerful and appealing than MacDonalds or Burger King.

As monumental as the Champs-Élysées is, the smaller avenues that run south from it to the Seine seem even ritzier: there isn’t a hint of populism here to dilute the intense air of exclusivity. The Avenue George V and the Avenue de Montaigne in particular are packed with beautiful hotels, and boutiques which, lit up at night, are works of art in themselves. Here you’ll find Dior, Prada, Chanel, and the legendary George V hotel itself, where The Beatles composed A Hard Day’s Night on a grand piano they had moved into their suite while playing concerts at the Olympia Theatre. Both avenues converge at the lovely, art nouveau Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, built in 1913 by Les Frères Perret.

North of the Champs-Élysées, running approximately parallel to it, there is another shopping thoroughfare to which any budding fashionista will feel compelled to make a pilgrimage: rue de Faubourg-St-Honoré. Here you’ll find the bastions of Parisian haute couture, like Hermes Magasin, Yves Siant-Laurent and Christian Dior, complemented, on the eastern stretch of the street, by newer, cutting edge designers – a trend that began with the opening of the ultra-chic concept store, Colette, which combines high fashion and design, complete with photo gallery and exhibition space.

Even the far less famous streets and avenues surrounding the Champs- Élysées, though built on a comparatively modest scale, seem to bathe in the atmosphere of chic that radiates from it and its subsidiaries, so no matter where you stay you’re more or less guaranteed a pleasant environment. Having explored its environs and strolled all the way down it, you’ll find yourself at the Place de la Concorde: 8 hectares of handsome space which throngs with circulating traffic, neatly balancing the place de l’Étoile at the other end. In some senses it represents the last gasp of France’s great Bourbon dynasty: it was built for Louis XV in 1763, only to be the venue for the beheading of Louis XVI in 1793. Its centrepiece is a striking, 23 metre tall, gold-tipped obelisk from the temple of Luxor, gifted to the nation by the Viceroy of Egypt in 1829. Though beautiful, this landmark tends to get a bit lost amid all the hurtling traffic.

The Place de la Concorde’s most impressive feature is the views it offers, especially south, across the Seine, to the Hotel des Invalides – a stunning building, originally created as a home for injured soldiers by Louis XVI and surrounded by the palatial lawns of the Esplanades des Invalides. Turn 180 degrees, however, and you’ll be treated to almost as impressive a prospect: the Madeleine Church framed at the end of the Rue Royale by two perfectly balanced, Neo-classical buildings. One of them houses the luxurious Crillon hotel, while the other is occupied by the Ministry of the Navy. The Rue Royale, incidentally, is set at an exact right angle to the Champs-Élysées, displaying geometric precision with which much of central Paris is laid out. It can seem almost eerily perfect sometimes, but no one visiting this famous street and the area surrounding it for the first time can deny its majesty and unmatched beauty.