Novotel - Saint Quentin Golf National

Climb the stairs to the viewing platform at the top of Arc de Triomphe. You'll have a great view of the main Parisian avenues that meet here. Don't forget to see the crazy traffic down below!The thing I remember really well is the bus drive to this big city from Charles de Gaulle airport. We drove through the confuzing maze of streets, and I was like a big kid in a new store, watching my unfamiliar surroundings and hoping to catch a glimpse of one of city's distinctive and world famous landmarks - perhaps the Eiffel Tower, maybe the Louvre or Notre Dame, who knows. Nothing of that happened and the suspense was to last right up to the point where the bus dropped us - just a stone drop away from the Charles de Gaulle - Etoile square. When the bus drove away and Irena and I turned around, my jaw bones dropped in exhilleration. In front of us stood the fabulous Arc de Triopmhe of Paris, lit in the evening sunlight. The scene was magnificent, without a cloud in the sky and for a few moments we just stopped there and watched. I was really impressed by the size of this thing! It looks much much bigger in reality than on postcards (I think it's about 50m high). And so Arc de Triomphe became our first real encounter with Paris and set the stage for an enjoyable week in Paris, one I'll always remember.