Within minutes of being accompanied by Janice for our sightseeing tour of Paris, it was obvious that she draws tourists in with her quirky and friendly yet blunt personality. Although exhausted from traveling, Janice made it easy to stay engaged with her tour guide skills- she was very adamant of only providing information she knew we would find interesting by gauging our age and taking into consideration where we’re from. She kept everything upbeat and exciting, and even had us make a few stops to either regather our attention with a coffee break or allowing us to see monuments she knew we’d be overly eager to see, such as the Eiffel Tower. She differed greatly from other tour guides we had, who all utilized their storytelling skills to engage and further inform us of the context behind an area. It is important to note that a huge part of tourism is reaching destinations inclusive of things that are pleasant for the eye to gaze upon (Urry, Larsen 120). Places such as The Arc de Triomphe are greatly anticipated by tourists due to the location and design of the building, reproducing meaning to the site itself as not only for what it was once built for, but what it stand as now being a anticipated destination (Urry, Larsen 119). Although she didn’t go into great detail of the Arc de Triomphe and what it stood for, she instead discussed it from a tourist standpoint, which we could relate to. She discussed that the arch is heavily visited, and can be done so by the underground path to it. However, many tourists aren’t aware of this and pointed out how many people unaware of the danger of doing so, will sprint across the road roundabout to get to the arch. She very sternly told us not to attempt this, and instead take the alternate underground route because this road is extremely dangerous as people do not drive in lanes and instead squeeze in however they can. Had she not informed us of this, not knowing any better I would have assumed crossing the road was the only way to get to the arch. Her tips were extremely helpful for tourists, and it is clear she takes time to get to know her audience.

            Built between 1806 and 1836, the Arc de Triomphe is located at the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle, and remains a very significant arch still true to the original concept today. The arch honors those who fought in the Napoleonic Wars, and contains the names of wars that were fought and generals who fought, which can be found on the top and inside of the arch. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is also memorialized underneath the arch (The Arc de Triomphe Paris). At the center of a roundabout, the arch is massive in size and at the top allows for an impressive full view of all of Paris. This large arch is inclusive of four pillars, each one on the inside containing the names of those who fought and those who died on the battlefield during the French Revolution. Each pillar also contains it’s own eye-drawing sculpture, each one slightly different but all utilize figures- people, weapons, animals- to celebrate a specific aspect of the French Revolution. The structures are each very compact and take on the overall shape of an oval, but still have breath-taking detail of each figure, such as a distraught man on a horse leaning back in clear heavy emotion, representing resistance to allied armies. The arcades of the arch are decorated with characters from Roman mythology, very small and simple on their own but seen as a whole do an amazing job of tying together the beauty of this structure (The Arc de Triomphe Paris). The Arc de Triomphe appears to be one massive arch, but when studied closer each sculpture, design and detail are all integral to telling a piece of history behind the representation of the arch, and beautifully tie into one another to create one masterpiece.

            The arch itself holds great power in the way it honors and remembers those who fought and died on the battlefield and holds a great deal of patriotism. It is pretty powerful to build a monument memorializing the history behind an entire country and the sacrifices it made yet victories that resulted from it all. Throughout the bus tour, Janice also held power to shape our gaze on not only the Arc de Triomphe, but Paris as a whole. She disregarded facts that she knew would go in one ear and out the other, but instead created a tour molded specifically for our interests based of our identity. She did an amazing job of relating to us, whether it be jokes that shocked us or keeping the tour light and airy rather than spewing fact after fact at us.

    

Urry, "Places, Buildings, and Designs," The Tourist Gaze 3.0 

 

http://www.arcdetriompheparis.com