Avenue d'Iéna

One way to walk from Place l’Etoile and its Arch of Triumph (see previous post) in direction of the Eiffel Tower (see previous posts)

...or vice versa of course, could be to use Avenue d'Iéna. This is a large avenue, quite calm.

On the way you find a small square, Place de l’Uruguay and the quite bigger square, Place des Etats Unis, with a little park, a playground and a number of statues referring to the US–French relations. There are a number of nice buildings around the place. One of them hosted the US Embassy during part of the 19th century, several were (or are) inhabited by some famous personalities or today occupied by smaller embassies. You can here also find a Baccarat Gallery (museum, shop, restaurant), certainly worth a visit.

Among the statues on the place, there is one to the memory of fallen American soldiers during WW I, one of Lafayette and Washington, one of a former much appreciated ambassador, Myron T. Herrick, and one of an American dentist, Horace Wells, “innovator of chirurgical anesthesia”. I already made a post about this statue and about him almost two years ago; a rather short and complicated life. A model of the Statue of Liberty (see previous posts) - which was offered by Americans to the city of Paris and which you now can find at the Ile de Cygnes (Swan Island) a bit downstream from the Eiffel Tower - was obviously originally placed in the middle of this place.

There are another number of embassies, museums and interesting buildings along the avenue. One smaller museum is a subsidiary to the great Calouste Gulbenkian museum in Lisbon; his Paris home was here. (A lot to be said about this man and his museum, but no space here. Maybe our blogging friends GMG or JM can complete?). The German cultural “Goethe Institute” is also to be found along the avenue. When you are at the end of the avenue in the direction of the Eiffel Tower, Place d’Iéna, there is a museum definitely also worth a visit, the Guimet Museum with one of the largest collections of Asian art outside Asia. A bit further up the avenue you can find a very nice “Buddhist Pantheon” , a subsidiary to the Guimet Museum.

As a last tribute to the United States, you will at Place d’Iéna discover a statue of George Washington.

I wish you again a nice weekend!