Champs-Élysées at Nght

⮝   ⏮   ◀    ChampsElyseesNight ▶   ⏭   ⛶

This is a view of the avenue des Champs-Élysées at night, decorated for Christmas. This picture shows the avenue from near the Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées towards the Arc de Triomphe, which is at the other end of the avenue. The picture was taken from the median of a crosswalk.

I took this photograph with cars streaking past in both directions. The median is marked by lines on the pavement and an occasional small post, but that's about it. Since I laugh at danger (well, almost) when obtaining pictures with which to entertain visitors to my Web site, I ignored this and snapped away. Motorcycles are the biggest hazard here, since they drive on the wrong side of the road most of the time; fortunately, there weren’t too many around during the few minutes I needed to take my pictures.

There are always people and cars on this street. The avenue would have looked very much the same at three o'clock in the morning. I also have another daylight picture from the top of the avenue, a picure of one of the broad sidewalks on the avenue, and even a photo taken from the top of the Arc de Triomphe (visible at the other end of the avenue in the picture above) if you're interested.

Incidentally, if your native language is English, you can approximate the correct pronunciation of the name of this avenue by saying “shahnz-ay-lee-zay.” The actual French pronunciation is /ʃɑ̃zelize/.

Photographed around Christmas, I think in 2010.