FRANCE – Paris, Avenue d’Eylau // Thunderball (1965)
Paris, city of love and leisure – quite fitting for James Bond. But the first time, we come to see Paris in a Bond movie, the secret agent doesn’t even pay a visit.
Why Bond was here
He wasn’t. James Bond (Sean Connery) investigates the hijacking of two nuclear warheads – traveling from the UK to the Bahamas. But the sinister men and women behind the hijacking are a certain group called SPECTRE and they come together for a secret meeting early on in the movie. The SPECTRE headquarter is in Paris, in an inconspicuous street vis-à-vis the famous Eiffel Tower.
How you gonna get there
The SPECTRE headquarter is located at No. 35 Avenue d’Eylau in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The street is perfectly aligned with the Eiffel Tower – though Largo (Adolfo Celi) doesn’t bother to look in “Thunderball”.
The street is an easy treat: You can either head to the Eiffel Tower (a movie location in “A View To A Kill”) and walk over to Avenue d’Eylau in roughly 25 minutes. Or you take the metro to either Trocadéro or Victor Hugo to be a little bit closer.
Good to know
The neighborhood Trocadéro is a Parisian gem. The narrow streets with the pin-needle corners are what makes Paris the city of lights: The white walls of the neoclassical houses catch and reflect the sun like a kaleidoscope. Art galerys, posh boutiques and cafés line up, the Eiffel Tower glimpses from afar. If you want to have a little vie en rose, wander the area and enjoy an afternoon break at one of the many cafés. The sweet pâtisserie Carette at Place du Trocadéro with its rainbow colored macarons are a good address. For an observation view on the SPECTRE headquarter sit at the italian joint Di Vino directly at Place de Mexico.
You obviously can’t visit Avenue d’Eylau without seeing the main attraction in the back: la Tour Eiffel. The street is actually a perfect spot for nice photographs of one of Paris’ most photographed sight. Use the narrow street for perfect composition shots – or head over to Place du Trocadéro for the ultimate view on the tower. Combined with the golden statues of the Palais de Chaillot it doesn’t get any more Parisienne.
© 2021 Huntingbond (1,3), ©1964 Danjaq S.A. (2)