Advantages: Spectacular monument in central Paris
Disadvantages: None

...Situated at the end of the Champs Elysées sits the Arc de Triomphe, a wonderful archway built to commemorate Napoleon's Grand Armée. I had visited Paris on several occasions in the past and, despite having visited the Arc before, my trip in September was the first time that I had been to the top of this marvellous structure. For just 8€, or 6.20€ for under 25's, you can climb to the top of this 50m high structure to get some impressive views across the city. You can see down the Champs Elysées to the Place de Concorde and Le Louvre, across the rooftops to the Eiffel Tower that sticks out from a sea of white or up towards the Grande Arche. The arc is situated in the centre of a roundabout from which 12 roads feed onto it making it probably one of the world's most dangerous stretches of road. To make it to the centre safely use... Read review

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Advantages: Massive ski area, no queues, well kept pistes
Disadvantages: A little expensive

...I am a seasoned skier and have been skiing for the past 24 years, as a holiday skier, and I can honestly say Les Arcs is the best ski resort I have been to. I went there about 3 years ago, and our hotel - the name escapes me - was built into the side of the mountain in Arc 2000. The boot room was on the top floor, which confused us on the first day. We went to the boot room got ready for our first days skiing, as we stepped out on to the snow we were greeted with our own downward slope on to the main chair lift which then took us to various parts of the Les Arcs mountains. Because of the location of the hotel we never needed to walk or use the ski bus to gain access to the slopes. And when we finished our days skiing, we skiied towards our hotel to get the hotels own drag lift back to the boot room. Whoever designed this hotel... Read review

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Advantages: ease of access, huge ski area, good resorts, excellent apres ski
Disadvantages: poorly groomed pistes and very busy at weekends

...It is very easy to get to, about 7/8 hours easy driving from Calais, you can take the Eurostar from London straight to Bourg St Maurice (which is the town at the foot of the mountains, below the three resorts Arc Pierre Blanche, Arc 1800 and Arc 20000 which make up the resort of Les Arcs) or you can fly to either Lyon or Geneva which are both about 3 hours drive from the resorts. Arc Peirre Blanche is connected to Bourg St Maurice by Funicular Railway or there is a regular bus service to take you to the three high altitude ski resorts. Arc 1800 is the biggest and busiest and is great for all standards and abilities of skiers, and also families as there is a choice of several kindergartens and kid ski schools. Also, the resort is traffic free, all vehicles having to park on the outskirts. There are plenty of bars, restaurants... Read review

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Advantages: Less crowded than the Eiffel Tower, Great Views
Disadvantages: Thirsty Work, not

...In the first rush of love my fiancé and I decided to take a few days off and go away somewhere, a very Bridget Jones mini-break scenario! After looking at a few cities that we thought we would like to visit we decided on Paris. Paris is traditionally known as the city of romance and it did not disappoint. However this review is about the Arc de Triomphe, so I will stop rambling now. The Arc de Triomphe was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 after his victory in Austerlitz, regarded as his greatest victory of all time and destroyed the armies of enemies Russia and Austria. The arc was not finished until 1836, after Napoleon's reign had finished and indeed after his death in 1821. The structure was designed by Jean François Thérèse Chalgrin and completed during the reign of Louis Philippe. The Arc de Triomphe stands at around 50 metres... Read review

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Advantages: quite cheap, panoramic views of Paris, interesting attraction
Disadvantages: v.busy,

...I went to Paris for the weekend last summer with my girlfriend and had a great time. It soon became clear that almost every major attraction offers amazing panoramic views over Paris and the Arc de Triomphe is no exception. It is one of the most famous monuments in Paris and fronts many postcards. The Arc de Triomphe is at the western end of the Champs-Elysees; a sight in itself. The arch is a tribute of respect to those that have fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic wars. It was designed by Jean Chalgrin in 1806; his work was taken on by Huyon in 1811 when Chalgrin sadly died. However, the monument was not completed until 1836 by Goust and Huyot. The Arc stands at 165ft tall, 148ft wide and 72ft deep, the design inspred by the Roman Arch of Titus. It has been unchanged for many years now but has to be occasionally jet... Read review

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Advantages: Huge Ski Area-Huge bar area!
Disadvantages: French Airports!

...One of teh most famous resorts in the Alps, Les Arcs is a purpose built resort on 3 levels. The 3 Villages at 1600, 1800 and 2000 have individual qualities which make them unique. 1600- near to bars and shops, obviously lower down the mountain , but more traditional than the other 2. Also nearer to the beginner slopes which makes it ideal for the family. 1800- Party Party Party! Bars and clubs, floodlit skiing. 2000- the highest and the best snow, purpose built this is a modern place with ample bars and restaurants, many ski in /ski out residences. Having stayed in all 3 places over the past few years all offer fantastic skiing and link brilliantly around the mountains and with the New link lift accross to La Plagne making this the biggest ski area in the alps (now bigger than 3 valleys) Always seems snow sure , with a variety... Read review

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Advantages: Good ski-ing, Great surroundings, great accomodation
Disadvantages: Quite expensive, but then the Alps is everywhere

...Les Arcs is one of the best known and largest of all French Resorts. It is split into 3 sections Arc 1600 Arc 1800 and Arc 2000. The neumbers refer to the height above sea level in metres. A funicilar railways runs at 20 minute intervals from Bourg St Maurice up to 1600 from where you can connect to the rest of the resort via mainly chairlifts, there is the ocassional tow, but mostly the resort is served with cable cars and chairlifts. 1600 has a good range of bars and shops, and is a good place to relax or sun bathe if the ski-ing is too arduous. . the ski-ing ranges from the easy to the extreme. From the highest point Auiguile Rouge at 3100 m their are a number of potentially tricky black runs, as well as the flying kilometer, a very steep straight down piste on which the speed skiers reach up tp 145 mph. There is lots of off piste... Read review

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Advantages: poor dialogue, good to start but deteriorates badly
Disadvantages: poorly paced

...Every school kid knows the story of Joan of arc. The real question here, is does the film live up to the immortal tale of the girl who saved france from her enemies and claimed to have bought a message from god, the answer is simply no. Milla Jovovich is superb as Joan and the film strats brightly, the period costumes and scenery are superb and is truly believable of the time period, and all of the other actors involved are quite satisfactory, inlcuding John Malkovich, the trouble is i keep expecting Keanu Reeves to jump into his head (check out being john malkovich review), and for the first half of the film, the action is superbly violent and true to life, unfortunately the story just rubs out of steam and the film dissappears staright up its own backside. More times should have been spent on the victories the army achieved with joans... Read review

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Advantages: Good view...
Disadvantages: ...but not the best

...♫ "Aux Champs Elysees… Aux Champs Elysees… Au soleil… sous la pluie…" ♫ Do you know the song? If not, at least you must have heard of the Champs Elysees. French people like to call it "The most beautiful avenue of the world". I am sorry to contradict them, but I have always wondered why. It is in fact quite ordinary. You'll find lots of cars, bad traffic, nice crowded shops and over-expensive coffee. That's it. Oh no! How could I forget? Among all that, you will find one of the most famous sights in Paris: the Arc de Triomphe. It was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 in order to commemorate his victories, but wasn't finished until 1836. It is 50 meters tall and 45 meters wide. I always thought the Arc de Triomphe was nice to look at, but I had never bothered visited it… until last summer. I had taken my boyfriend... Read review

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Advantages: Good movie that is well done all the way around
Disadvantages: Joan looked pretty nuts.

...I saw this movie last night. I remember when this first came out in the theaters, there was a television miniseries about Joan of Arc about the same time with LeeLee Sobricki (I may have spelled this wrong). It was pretty good, especially LeeLee, she had done a fantastic job. I heard that “The Messenger” in the theaters was a disappointment. I wasn’t disappointed at all. I only saw two differences between the two movies. The first was that Milla Jovavich was playing Joan of Arc. The second is that this movie, ‘The Messenger”, is pretty graphic. Naturally I don’t think it totally did justice to Joan of Arc. It tended to make her look a little bit nuts. But I think it did her justice on a few other facts though. When she was imprisoned, she had been tortured, raped, and forced into wearing men’s... Read review

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