Here are a few photos of our walk in La Défense, taken on a bright sunny afternoon of September. La Défense is France’s largest business district and is situated in the Hauts-de-Seine département to the West of Paris.
Last winter we published a post with our photos taken during a walk in La Défense. Yesterday afternoon was bright and sunny and I decided to head for Paris after work. My initial plan was to discover the 16th arrondissement in the vicinity of the Trocadéro. A series of traffic issues in the RER A line made it difficult to reach Paris and I thought I would stop at La Défense. Not exactly what I had in mind. You never go to La Défense (or any business districts) on a beautiful sunny day as there are much more ‘beautiful’ things to see in Paris: the banks of River Seine, the hill of Montmartre, parks and gardens… But visiting La Défense, no way. I would rather keep this as an option for cloudy days. (and then would find myself complaining about how La Défense is a dreadful, unpleasant and sad place to be!)
So here I was, emerging from the métro station “Esplanade de la Défense”, blessed with a beautiful vista on the Arc de Triomphe. Many recently built skyscrapers were reflecting the blue sky and revealed an interesting side of the district.
Based on my Winter walk earlier this year, I walked along the Historical Axis of Paris without forgetting a few hidden places. It is on each sides of the grand perspective that are found squares and statues, footbridges linking La Défense to the other suburbs down the ‘Dalle’. The ‘Dalle’? I’m talking about the artificial platform made up of a concrete slab which ingenuously hides all the transport links (motorway A14, the roads, métro and train railway lines) to create a huge pedestrian area. It extends from the métro station ‘Esplanade de la Défense’ and the vineyards of Chantecoq to the rear of the Grande Arche.
The CB21 tower seen from the escalator of the métro station ‘Esplanade de la Défense’:
CB21 Tower, La Défense © French Moments
View to the Arc de Triomphe from the Takis Bassin:
Takis Basin, La Défense © French Moments
The Takis Bassin and a view of the Eiffel Tower:
Eiffel Tower from La Défense © French Moments
France’s tallest skyscraper in 2015: Tour First (231 m):
First Tower, La Défense © French Moments
A modern view of La Défense from the Alsace footbridge:
From the Alsace footbridge, La Défense © French Moments
The Cheminée, a monumental sculpture by Moretti:
Le Moretti, La Défense © French Moments
The Cheminée, La Défense © French Moments
The Historical Axis of Paris runs through the ‘dalle’ of La Défense:
The perspective towards Arc de Triomphe, La Défense © French Moments
Reflections of the Cœur Défense tower onto the façade of the Opus 12 tower:
Coeur Défense, La Défense © French Moments
The fountain of Agam:
Agam fountain, La Défense © French Moments
The Grande Arche de la Défense:
Grande Arche, La Défense © French Moments
The Areva Tower (184 m) and the Total Tower (187m) with the Red Spider sculpture (by Alexander Calder) in the forefront:
Areva and Total towers, La Défense © French Moments
The esplanade of La Défense:
The esplanade of La Défense © French Moments
The fountain of Agam:
The Agam fountain, La Défense © French Moments
From left to right: the Framatome, Total and Cœur Défense towers:
Areva, Total and Coeur Défense towers, La Défense © French Moments
The top of the D2 tower:
Top of D2 tower, La Défense © French Moments
The top of the Total Tower (187 m):
Total tower © French Moments
The Coeur-Défense and Carpe Diem towers:
Coeur Défense and Carpe Diem Towers © French Moments
A view to the suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine and the Arc de Triomphe:
Neuilly and Arc de Triomphe seen from the esplanade of La Défense © French Moments
The CNIT:
The CNIT © French Moments
From left to right: the Grande Arche, the Technip, Engie and Sequoia Towers:
Grande Arche, and the Technip, Engie and Sequoia Towers © French Moments
The geode of La Défense copyright French Moments
View of La Défense from the Couchant footbridge:
The view from the Couchant footbridge © French Moments
The futurist Japan Bridge:
The Japan bridge © French Moments
The Japan bridge © French Moments
The two twin towers of the Société Générale Bank (167 m tall) were completed in 1995. Behind them was built by the same bank the even taller Granite Tower (184 m) in 2008:
The Société Générale bank © French Moments
