In front of the Louvre, at the foot of the Champs-Elysées, is the beautiful Place de la Concorde, the largest square in Paris.   It was built between 1755 and 1775 by Louis XVth's architect Gabriel.   During the French revolution, the square was called place de la Révolution.  A guillotine was installed at the center of the square and in only a couple of years, 1119 people were beheaded here, including King Louis XVI, Marie-Antionette, and Robespierre.  But don't worry, we didn't have any trouble of that sort.

brenda concorde

Here we see a colossal Brenda holding the Eiffel Tower in her right hand, with the obelisk and a really fancy streetlight in the background.

fountain

One of the two beautiful fountains in the Place de la Concorde.  I think this one is called 'Elevation of the Maritime' although I have no idea why anyone would want the maritime elevated.  Fact is, I have no idea what that means.  But you knew that.

oblisk

Here's Gabe, Brenda and Amanda in front of the 3200 year-old oblisk in the center of the Place de la Concorde.  The Oblisk is from the temple of Ramses II at Thebes.  It's about 25 feet tall, carved from pink granite and weighs approximately 230 tons.  In 1831, it was offered by the Viceroy of Egypt to Louis Philippe.  The obelisk is covered with hieroglyphs picturing the reign of pharaohs Ramses II and Ramses III.

This is looking up the Champs-Elysées from the Place de la Concorde.  You can see the Arc de Triomphe just above Amanda's head.

Here's another picture looking up the Champs-Elysées toward the Arc de Triomphe.