Is There Any Such Thing As Too Many Photos of the Arc de Triomphe?

We used up the second day of our two- day pass on Les Cars Rouges, a double-decker fleet of buses that make the scenic-tour rounds of nine popular destinations in central Paris.

Sorry to say, folks, but the stretch of the Champs Élysées from Place de la Concorde to Avenue Montaigne looks like a Wisconsin Dells version of Paris. And the rest of the Avenue is a Temple of Consumerism, similar to Michigan Avenue in Chicago. From a casual observation, it appears to be home to the greatest concentration of pizza restaurants in all of Paris.

But hey, the Arc is always in view.

A long line of people waiting to make the climb to the observation deck of the Arc kept us at ground level. We estimated a 2-hour wait -- minimum. One of the downsides of Paris during Christmas week.

By next week, it might be time to explore Paris off the beaten path.