Lance Armstrong. We've seen him biking down The Champs Elysees at a leisurely pace, smiling with a glass of champagne in hand, and wrapping up 7 victories in Le Tour De France. Of course, now our memories are tarnished because he has been stripped of all 7 championships due to doping. But our 5-year-old memories of the magnificent Avenue des Champs-Elysees have only been tarnished a little bit by the fact that it is now scattered with a few more low-end stores and restaurants, and a few less of the fancier designer shops.

The Champs Elysees starts at the traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe, and runs southeast for a little more than a mile, ending at Place de la Concorde with it's tall obelisk in the center. We wanted to visit the flagship Louis Vuitton store to see their latest and greatest (to report back to Bonnie on any bargains that might be had-- there were none), but first we had to wait in line for 5 minutes before we got in. It was a couple of floors of handbags, luggage, shoes, messenger bags, silk scarves. dresses, and coats-- all tres current and tres expensive. We also were drawn to the spectacular Nespresso store, where they have 3 floors of espresso machines, milk frothers, packages of pods, and a few coffee bars where you can enjoy the espresso and snacks.

We stopped for a treat at Fouquet's, a very old sidewalk cafe that fronts a newer four-star hotel where you can get a room starting at about $1100 a night. The customers were everything from tourists like us, to celebrities, to Saudi shieks. The chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) and capuccino were very good, but the service was slow and indifferent. They really do seem to cater to their A-List customers. For the privilege of snacking and sitting at Fouquet's, we paid 12 euros for the hot chocolate and 12 euros for the capuccino, which amounts to about $31 in American dollars. It isn't customary to tip in Europe unless the service is exceptional, and then only a couple of euros. But the service was inattentive, so we saved a few bucks! We didn't feel cheated because we knew in advance that we were paying a premium for the one-time experience.

After our visit to The Champs-Elysees, we had a delightful dinner at Le Kleber on Avenue Kleber, which is another of the streets that radiate from the Arc de Triomphe. By the time we finished dining, it was dark, and we returned to the Arc de Triomphe to catch the Metro back to our apartment. You can see a photo of the Arc de Triomphe all lit up at night, as well as a few other photos of our day's adventure, by clicking on "Photos".