La Defense

If you follow the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, and then basically keep going straight through the arch and down the street directly opposite the Champs Elysees (Avenue de la Grande Armee), you will eventually end up at La Defense, a big commercial shopping and business area in the northern part of Paris.

I had never been out to La Defense, and E decided it was something I should experience. Plus we had the time.

So, we took the Metro most of the way down, and got out one stop early to check out the random sculptures that line the Esplanade leading to the "Grande Arche."

Looking back towards the Arc de Triomphe.

The La Defense arch.

My favorite of the random sculptures along our walk to La Defense.

(This one is supposed to be turned the other direction and make the sculpture look inordinately tall. But Blogger is lame and keeps rotating it, so it looks really awkwardly loooooong, instead. Whatev. I just love all of the different colors.)

Just to the left of the photo there is a mall, where E and I spent about an hour shopping, and where I found TWO things I had been wanting to find for a good long while now (a jacket that works for Spring and isn't too long or too thick, and an exercise ball).

After shopping for a bit, we hopped on the Metro and met up with some of the BYU kids at the Hard Rock Cafe. Best onion rings I've ever had in my life. They were: thin enough to bite through so the whole onion didn't slide out of the fried batter, but substantial enough to still look like "normal" onion rings. My burger was also great (Red White and Blue burger), but next time I would go without the spicy sauce and just use the BBQ sauce.

(And frankly, next time I probably wouldn't eat at Hard Rock. But it was a fun one-time type thing to do.)