• SiewchParis Olympics 2024Traveler
    La Defense Grande Arche.
    La Defense Grande Arche.La Defense Grande Arche.La Defense Grande Arche.La Defense Grande Arche.La Defense Grande Arche.La Defense Grande Arche at night.The view from La Defense Grande Arche.The view from La Defense Grande Arche.La Defense.La Defense.The Characters by Joan Miro, La Defense.Arraignee Rouge (Red Spider) by Alexander Calder, La Defense.En route from the Mercure Hotel to La Defense.La Defense.La Defense.La Defense.En route from the Mercure Hotel to La Defense.The Atlas Obscura-featured thumb sculpture at La Defense.The Atlas Obscura-featured thumb sculpture at La Defense.Artificial waterfall along an alternate route to our hotel.Giant chair outside the Esplanade de La Defense station.A pool at the Esplanade de La Defense station.Cube Sphere Gold by Cyril Lancelin, La Defense.An unoccupied building at La Defense.Unoccupied buildings on our walk between La Defense and the Mercure Hotel.Unoccupied buildings on our walk between La Defense and the Mercure Hotel.

    La Defense

    July 25, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    On Thursday morning, Jeff began his official duties. His first order of duty was to get his accreditation and his competition kit. While he was doing those tasks, I ventured out for my initial explorations. I have been to Paris several times before in the 1990s, so for this trip, I utilized Atlas Obscura as my guide for finding weird and wonderful things in the city.

    To get to the city, I first had to return to La Defense, which is a ten minute walk from the hotel. At La Defense, I marveled at the modernist architecture, including the iconic Grande Arche, and the expansive public space. While exploring the area, I thought of the video for a 1997 song called Stay by German DJ Sash! which was filmed at this site. Here is the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrwi79HxaOw

    La Defense also features one Atlas Obscura site: a sculpture of a giant thumb. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/le-pouce-gi…

    We visited La Defense many times on this trip because we had to walk there and back to get to and from the Metro. On one occasion, we mixed things up a little by exiting the Metro one stop earlier. At that earlier stop, we found a giant chair next to a pool. We also took an alternative route back to the hotel, and we came across some unoccupied buildings and an artificial waterfall. It was a little surreal walking past these ghost buildings which are just a block away from lively streets,    Read more