Christmas is in the air…

Place de la Concorde's big wheel

Never does the City of Light deserve its nickname better than during the Christmas season. From the end of November to mid-January, all the trees that line Paris’ most famous avenue, the Champs-Elysées, are illuminated by a multitude of colored lights.

Every year, the city asks a personality to inaugurate the Christmas illuminations –French actress Mélanie Laurent was the last guest of honor on Wednesday, succeeding other celebrities such as Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marion Cotillard, Vanessa Paradis, Catherine Deneuve and Monica Belluci – while thousands of people turn out to watch the switch being flicked and a flurry of shiny confetti being released onto the street.

The system, which consumes ten times fewer watts than a conventional system, is installed by a team of 15 people and covers nearly 430 trees, stretching all the way from the Place de l’Etoile and the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde.