Ah, Paris. Paris is... a lot of different things to as many different people. A home for some of the world's greatest art, a centre of fashion, place scarred with history, or just a pretty city on the way to somewhere else—Paris has as many guises and disguises as its citizens. Paris—city of light, city of love, city of art...city of lots of stuff, but many of people swing though on the way to or from somewhere else, catching a glimpse of the city each time they do, which is a good way to do it—because Paris is the kind of city you'll want to keep coming back to. There are so many things to see and do in Paris that just walking around can be an experience, but if you choose your route carefully you can swing by some of the main events as you do. This itinerary is for the beginner, who knows they're coming back.
Day 1
The first question to ask yourself as you're boarding your plane or train Paris bound is how much of my time do I want to spend in art galleries?
Paris has so many that if you're only there for a short time you're going to have to make a difficult choice, and if you haven't been before that choice is probably going to be between the Louvre, with its bigger-than-Jesus star the Mona Lisa and glass pyramid glowing invitingly, or just across the river the Musee d'Orsay, with works by Degas and Manet. This is not an easy choice but it can be a case of do one well of swing quickly though both. If you haven't made your decision by the time you're checked into your hotel give yourself a bit of extra thinking space while taking coffee on a cruise along the Seine, which will help get you a feel for the layout of the city. Get off by Notre Dame and make your decision... Then absorb as much as you can before closing time spits you out into the now glowing city. If you skipped the Louvre stroll by now admiring the pyramid in what photographer's call the magic hour, where architecture is at its most photogenic. Then catch the same magic at Notre Dame.
Paris has so many that if you're only there for a short time you're going to have to make a difficult choice, and if you haven't been before that choice is probably going to be between the Louvre, with its bigger-than-Jesus star the Mona Lisa and glass pyramid glowing invitingly, or just across the river the Musee d'Orsay, with works by Degas and Manet. This is not an easy choice but it can be a case of do one well of swing quickly though both. If you haven't made your decision by the time you're checked into your hotel give yourself a bit of extra thinking space while taking coffee on a cruise along the Seine, which will help get you a feel for the layout of the city. Get off by Notre Dame and make your decision... Then absorb as much as you can before closing time spits you out into the now glowing city. If you skipped the Louvre stroll by now admiring the pyramid in what photographer's call the magic hour, where architecture is at its most photogenic. Then catch the same magic at Notre Dame.
LOUVRE MUSEUM
Address : 75001 Paris
The Louvre Museum, with its spectacular glass pyramid, is an icon of Paris and one of the world's most-visited cultural sites. Its vast and rich collections encompass all ages-from antiquity (the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory) and the Renaissance (the Mona Lisa, works by Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Titian) to 19th-century French masterpieces. The Louvre-Lens project, now under way, will see more of the enormous collection out of storage and on display at a second site in north Paris. The museum was originally the main Royal Palace in Paris, and was built on the site of an earlier royal fortress, whose remains can be seen on the ground floor. Napoleon, who preferred the Palace of Fontainebleau, turned the Louvre into a repository for all the artworks he looted from throughout Europe—and it remains today one the top three museums in the world, alongside the British Museum and the Hermitage.
Address : 75001 Paris
The Louvre Museum, with its spectacular glass pyramid, is an icon of Paris and one of the world's most-visited cultural sites. Its vast and rich collections encompass all ages-from antiquity (the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory) and the Renaissance (the Mona Lisa, works by Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Titian) to 19th-century French masterpieces. The Louvre-Lens project, now under way, will see more of the enormous collection out of storage and on display at a second site in north Paris. The museum was originally the main Royal Palace in Paris, and was built on the site of an earlier royal fortress, whose remains can be seen on the ground floor. Napoleon, who preferred the Palace of Fontainebleau, turned the Louvre into a repository for all the artworks he looted from throughout Europe—and it remains today one the top three museums in the world, alongside the British Museum and the Hermitage.
MUSEE D'ORSAY
Address : 1 Rue de la Légion d'Honneur 75007 Paris
This Left Bank museum is housed in a beautifully converted Belle Epoque train station. It features painting, photography and sculpture, primarily by French artists from the mid-19th to the early 20th centuries. A small section is devoted to a display of Art Nouveau furniture. However, the museum is best-known for its excellent collection of Impressionist painting.
Address : 1 Rue de la Légion d'Honneur 75007 Paris
This Left Bank museum is housed in a beautifully converted Belle Epoque train station. It features painting, photography and sculpture, primarily by French artists from the mid-19th to the early 20th centuries. A small section is devoted to a display of Art Nouveau furniture. However, the museum is best-known for its excellent collection of Impressionist painting.
RIVER SEINE
If you've only got a couple of days in Paris, a cruise on the Seine is an obvious choice. How else can you admire the Louvre at enough of a distance to take in the whole, magnificent thing, inspect the ornate Alexander III Bridge and the elegant Pont Neuf, gaze on the Gothic island glory of Notre Dame, marvel at the full railway-station length of the Musee d'Orsay, see the giant obelisk of Luxor pierce the sky above the Place de la Concorde and feel tiny beneath the tower held together by two-and-a-half million rivets in an hour? But there's so much more to it than that. Paris is full of an adaptable type of romance - for couples on their dinner cruises, yes - but also for the solitary traveller watching from the stern of a bateau mouche, or the children excited just by being on the water. How can anyone fail to find themselves in their own art-house movie, silhouetted against a sunset-soaked skyline of such beauty, surrounded by the fairground lights of passing paddle steamers? And there's always a stranger waving from the middle of at least one bridge...
If you've only got a couple of days in Paris, a cruise on the Seine is an obvious choice. How else can you admire the Louvre at enough of a distance to take in the whole, magnificent thing, inspect the ornate Alexander III Bridge and the elegant Pont Neuf, gaze on the Gothic island glory of Notre Dame, marvel at the full railway-station length of the Musee d'Orsay, see the giant obelisk of Luxor pierce the sky above the Place de la Concorde and feel tiny beneath the tower held together by two-and-a-half million rivets in an hour? But there's so much more to it than that. Paris is full of an adaptable type of romance - for couples on their dinner cruises, yes - but also for the solitary traveller watching from the stern of a bateau mouche, or the children excited just by being on the water. How can anyone fail to find themselves in their own art-house movie, silhouetted against a sunset-soaked skyline of such beauty, surrounded by the fairground lights of passing paddle steamers? And there's always a stranger waving from the middle of at least one bridge...
NOTRE DAME DE PARIS
Address : 6 Parvis Notre-Dame - Place Jean-Paul II,75004, Paris
If you're a church go-er you should consider for a minute what it would be like to attend services in one of the most famous churches in the world. People beside you snapping away as you sing hymns and others joining in at the back, not really sure how to conduct themselves properly, but their hearts in the right place. Well that's what happens in Paris's Notre Dame, visitors are still allowed though while services are held. Nice for visitors, but it's hard to imagine what it would be like to be a parishioner.
Address : 6 Parvis Notre-Dame - Place Jean-Paul II,75004, Paris
If you're a church go-er you should consider for a minute what it would be like to attend services in one of the most famous churches in the world. People beside you snapping away as you sing hymns and others joining in at the back, not really sure how to conduct themselves properly, but their hearts in the right place. Well that's what happens in Paris's Notre Dame, visitors are still allowed though while services are held. Nice for visitors, but it's hard to imagine what it would be like to be a parishioner.
As a visitor it means you're able to listen to the wonderful singing of the choir followed by some words of wisdom (in a mix of French and Latin from what I could gather), and smell the powerfully traditional scent of incense burning on the alter, which makes a visit all the richer - I just hope it's not too bad for the regulars.
Notre Dame is open to the public from early 'til late and people press through all day past the series of chapels and alcoves for the saints which line the walls. Gold paint and marble have that aged, mottled sheen to them, slightly coloured by years of candle smoke and loving worship. It's wonderful to feel it being in use though - churches empty of prayer are strange, cold places, but even on a November evening Notre Dame is warm and rosey inside, as well as being serious and formal.
It's hard to feel the power of a place if you're surrounded by a crowd snapping photos but if there's a service about to start as well and incense permeates the famous ceiling and chapels then it's far easier to remember what this building was built for.
Outside it's been beautifully cleaned and lit, you can see the twin towers with their retinue of gargoyles and saints and lattice of buttresses for several blocks before the elegant town houses swallow it up.
Visit during the 'magic hour' cameramen love when the late afternoon's natural light gives everything a beautiful glow rather than a golden bath - to make the most of both the beauty of the rose windows and of the lighting once you've filed though and outside.
Day 2
The second question to ask yourself is do you want to see Paris laid out before you in the day or lit up with lights in the evening? Le Tour Eiffel will keep popping into view as you turn a corner, tempting like a siren, so you should make a date with this iron lady. The cheap date involves walking up 650 stairs to the second level, and the expensive involves paying for a lift to that height or higher. Plan to see her at the beginning or end of your second day so as not to keep her waiting too long.Paris is best seen on foot so the rest of your second day should be spent seeing the sights. Visit old Paris at Pere Lachaise, then walk though to the Opera, the Arc de Triomphe and shop for perfume at Sephora on the Champs-Elysees. For the total Parisian experience consider booking a dinner and floor show sitting next door at Le Lido.
ARC DE TRIOMPHE
Address : Place Charles de Gaulle 75008 Paris
Napoleon's Triumphal Arch - echoing the arch of Constantine in Rome - was not finished by its due date, when his new bride Marie Louise of Austria arrived in town after her proxy marriage to him in Vienna. The finished it in canvas, and so it remained until it was finally finished after his death, in 1836.
Address : Place Charles de Gaulle 75008 Paris
Napoleon's Triumphal Arch - echoing the arch of Constantine in Rome - was not finished by its due date, when his new bride Marie Louise of Austria arrived in town after her proxy marriage to him in Vienna. The finished it in canvas, and so it remained until it was finally finished after his death, in 1836.
Climb for the alternative bird's eye view of Paris - the experience of crossing the road without using the underpass (not recommended by the way!) is worth the trip alone, as is the pattern of streets radiating from the rond-point you get from the top. The traffic behaviour of the local residents is fascinating.
Don't miss the small but interesting Napoleonic museum on the way up - most visitors breeze right past, but they've got his camp bed, map cases and other stuff.
EIFFEL TOWER
Address : Champ de Mars 5 Avenue Anatole France 75007 Paris
Originally built for the 1889 World Fair, this structure was designed to incorporate the advancement of metallurgy in construction, meaning that an engineer could have a more fundamental role than the architect. In this case, Gustav Eiffel was both engineer and architect, and for 40 years it was the tallest building in the world. The metal latticework is the defining feature of the spire, made from very pure structural iron, so it is very light and able to withstand awesome winds. What is original about the tower is that you do not get the feeling of being in a building - the latticework allows you to look to other floors and at all views with little obstruction.
Address : Champ de Mars 5 Avenue Anatole France 75007 Paris
Originally built for the 1889 World Fair, this structure was designed to incorporate the advancement of metallurgy in construction, meaning that an engineer could have a more fundamental role than the architect. In this case, Gustav Eiffel was both engineer and architect, and for 40 years it was the tallest building in the world. The metal latticework is the defining feature of the spire, made from very pure structural iron, so it is very light and able to withstand awesome winds. What is original about the tower is that you do not get the feeling of being in a building - the latticework allows you to look to other floors and at all views with little obstruction.
CHAMPS-ELYSEES
The Champs-Elysees, or 'Elysian Fields' as translated into English, is perhaps the most famous thoroughfare in the world, more famous than Picadilly or Park Avenue. This wide 2 km long tree lined street is spectacular for the fact that it links a view of the Arc de Triomphe at one end with the Place de La Concorde, and beyond that the Tuileries Gardens and the Louvre, at the other - so the view is amazing, especially at night with the red and white tail-lights of the cars. Tourists risk life and limb to run across to the island in the middle of the Place de la Concorde to get this shot. The street is lined by those stores who can afford the astronomical rent - car showrooms, cinemas, Louis Vuitton, Disney, all major world brands, and the famous Lido night club. The upper stories are all offices - only about nine people actually live on this expensive street.
The Champs-Elysees, or 'Elysian Fields' as translated into English, is perhaps the most famous thoroughfare in the world, more famous than Picadilly or Park Avenue. This wide 2 km long tree lined street is spectacular for the fact that it links a view of the Arc de Triomphe at one end with the Place de La Concorde, and beyond that the Tuileries Gardens and the Louvre, at the other - so the view is amazing, especially at night with the red and white tail-lights of the cars. Tourists risk life and limb to run across to the island in the middle of the Place de la Concorde to get this shot. The street is lined by those stores who can afford the astronomical rent - car showrooms, cinemas, Louis Vuitton, Disney, all major world brands, and the famous Lido night club. The upper stories are all offices - only about nine people actually live on this expensive street.
It's also the location of France's military parades and other great events - the most famous of which have been De Gaulle's re-entry into Paris in 1944 (see the image on the right) - and France's World Cup victory party in 2000, when 1m people thronged the Champs-Elysees. Oh, and the President lives in the Elysee Palace near the bottom end of it.
PARIS OPERA HOUSE
Address : 8 Rue Scribe, 75009 Paris
In the eclecticism and the liveliness of its decoration, the Paris Opera House is one of the symbols of French Imperialism, an ornate building richly decorated with friezes, columns, winged statues and elaborate decoration. This richness continues inside with velvet, gold leaf, and nymphs and cherubs. Due to the diversity of materials used, you are immediately struck by a full range of colours, right from the facade that opens into the fairy-tale world of the Opera House. The stairs are decorated in marble and onyx, the lobby with Venetian mosaics. Two small rooms, one dedicated to the Moon, the other to the Sun, lead to the main foyer, a gallery of gilded luxury filled with mythological characters.
Address : 8 Rue Scribe, 75009 Paris
In the eclecticism and the liveliness of its decoration, the Paris Opera House is one of the symbols of French Imperialism, an ornate building richly decorated with friezes, columns, winged statues and elaborate decoration. This richness continues inside with velvet, gold leaf, and nymphs and cherubs. Due to the diversity of materials used, you are immediately struck by a full range of colours, right from the facade that opens into the fairy-tale world of the Opera House. The stairs are decorated in marble and onyx, the lobby with Venetian mosaics. Two small rooms, one dedicated to the Moon, the other to the Sun, lead to the main foyer, a gallery of gilded luxury filled with mythological characters.
PERE LACHAISE CEMETERY
Address : 16 Rue du Repos 75020 Paris
This is the largest cemetery within the city of Paris and a beautiful, very well-kept one, and aside from being the final resting place of hundreds of ordinary Parisians, its 118 acres contain the cherished remains of some of the world's greatest literary, artistic, scientific and political minds.
Address : 16 Rue du Repos 75020 Paris
This is the largest cemetery within the city of Paris and a beautiful, very well-kept one, and aside from being the final resting place of hundreds of ordinary Parisians, its 118 acres contain the cherished remains of some of the world's greatest literary, artistic, scientific and political minds.
Honore de Balzac, Sarah Bernhardt, Georges Bizet, Maria Callas, Frederic Chopin, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde and Marcel Marceau are just a few of its revered occupants, and there can be few who would not be enraptured by the idea that one or two of them might return to the world of the living on occasion.
There are several days' worth of graves to explore here and a ghost story is attached to many of them. One of the best known is that of Marcel Proust and Maurice Ravel, whose ghostly forms are said to rise from their graves by night to seek one another, since their love was despised in their lifetimes and they were not allowed to be buried together. The red roses on Colette's grave are supposedly replenished by the spirit of Colette herself.
Some concentration camp victims are also remembered at Pere Lachaise, nameless but known worldwide for the suffering they endured. Their bodies were never recovered but their ghosts are nevertheless believed to haunt the peaceful memorials.
Day 3
If you're in Paris for a long weekend then this is the perfect Sunday. Rise early to get over to Sacre Coeur and experience the church as it should be before climbing the stairs into the dome for another opportunity for a view over Paris. Film fans will want to breakfast in the same cafe as Amelie works in before wandering though the meandering preserved alleyways of the Marais and indulging in some day dreaming about living there, or at least taking an artistic lover who lives in a garret here. Shop for painstakingly blended teas and nougat made by nuns before having a big meal and spending a couple of hours in the Musee Picasso, not forgetting to admire the building as well as the art. Head back into central Paris via the Pompidou Centre before saying your au revoir on a final walk along the Seine.
BASILICA DU SACRE COEUR
Address : 35 Rue du Chevalier de la Barre 75018 Paris
For the aesthete: So perfectly and carefully constructed, Sacre Coeur sits on Paris's highest point, held up as surely one of it's most lovely tributes to god. We're supposed to find love with symmetry and here Sacre Coeur delivers, white, delicate and intricately matched columns, pillars and graceful (not over done) arches and three domes light up my eyes more than the heavy grand grey of more famous Notre Dame. Inside is one of the largest and surely, most beautiful, mosaics in the world.
Address : 35 Rue du Chevalier de la Barre 75018 Paris
For the aesthete: So perfectly and carefully constructed, Sacre Coeur sits on Paris's highest point, held up as surely one of it's most lovely tributes to god. We're supposed to find love with symmetry and here Sacre Coeur delivers, white, delicate and intricately matched columns, pillars and graceful (not over done) arches and three domes light up my eyes more than the heavy grand grey of more famous Notre Dame. Inside is one of the largest and surely, most beautiful, mosaics in the world.
For the historians: Built for Jesus' Sacred Heart in the aftermath of the Paris revolts over the Franco-Prussian war in the 1870's, the church is built of the spot where the uprisings took greatest force and where the army massacred many of the protesters but is supposedly a memorial to those who died in the war. Enjoy the quiet (except for the subtle splash of the fountains) gardens and climb the stairs for a peak out of the domed roof over all of Paris.
AMELIE'S CAFE
Address : 15 Rue Lepic, Rue Cauchois, Montmartre, Paris
This is a great film and Paris is a unique place to visit, especially the film's director's manor, Montmartre, so I was very disappointed to hear that most of the internal locations were shot in a German studio. The externals are all real though, and you can go to the Cafe des Deux Moulins where Amelie works and have a cognac and a creme brulee , it just doesn't look how you want it to look. The metro station Amelie escorts the blind man from is Lamarch-Caulaincourt, you'll know it for the double flights of staris, and the carousel from where Ameile leaves a trail for Nino is located at Place St. Pierre near the Basilica of Sacre-Cour. To help you get into the feel of things bring your orange tinted lenses and positive attitude.
Address : 15 Rue Lepic, Rue Cauchois, Montmartre, Paris
This is a great film and Paris is a unique place to visit, especially the film's director's manor, Montmartre, so I was very disappointed to hear that most of the internal locations were shot in a German studio. The externals are all real though, and you can go to the Cafe des Deux Moulins where Amelie works and have a cognac and a creme brulee , it just doesn't look how you want it to look. The metro station Amelie escorts the blind man from is Lamarch-Caulaincourt, you'll know it for the double flights of staris, and the carousel from where Ameile leaves a trail for Nino is located at Place St. Pierre near the Basilica of Sacre-Cour. To help you get into the feel of things bring your orange tinted lenses and positive attitude.
THE MARAIS
Sidewalk cafes, antique shops, and an eclectic group of some of the most individual little boutiques set the mood as you stroll down the Marais area of Paris on a sunny day. Come here to get away from the hustle and bustle of larger, department type stores with trendy fashion. The Marais is a mix of Greenwich village and SoHo fashion shops, with small art galleries sprinkled between. Walk in and out of the shops at your own pace, admiring handmade trinkets and fabulous bohemian handbags. There are many up and coming designers who are featured on Rue de Rosiers that are definitely worth a look, as well as Satellite, on Rue de Francs- Bourgeois, a beautiful jewelry boutique. Fresh scents and eye-catching decorations fill each shop and invite you to taste the fun and funky fashions that each shop offers. For a bite to eat, Miss Manor on 87 rue Saint-Antoine offers delicious Viennese bread and buns, hot drinks, croques, paninis, delectable salads, and other treats that will satisfy all taste buds. Although some may find the shops at Marais a little too quirky, the differences are a refreshing change of pace. The main streets of Marais are Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, Place des Vosges, Rue de Turenne, and Rue des Rosiers. You can easily access this smart neighborhood by taking either the Metro Saint Paul (Line 1) or Hotel de Ville (Line 1,11). Alternatively stay in one of an increasing number of chic hotels in the area.
Sidewalk cafes, antique shops, and an eclectic group of some of the most individual little boutiques set the mood as you stroll down the Marais area of Paris on a sunny day. Come here to get away from the hustle and bustle of larger, department type stores with trendy fashion. The Marais is a mix of Greenwich village and SoHo fashion shops, with small art galleries sprinkled between. Walk in and out of the shops at your own pace, admiring handmade trinkets and fabulous bohemian handbags. There are many up and coming designers who are featured on Rue de Rosiers that are definitely worth a look, as well as Satellite, on Rue de Francs- Bourgeois, a beautiful jewelry boutique. Fresh scents and eye-catching decorations fill each shop and invite you to taste the fun and funky fashions that each shop offers. For a bite to eat, Miss Manor on 87 rue Saint-Antoine offers delicious Viennese bread and buns, hot drinks, croques, paninis, delectable salads, and other treats that will satisfy all taste buds. Although some may find the shops at Marais a little too quirky, the differences are a refreshing change of pace. The main streets of Marais are Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, Place des Vosges, Rue de Turenne, and Rue des Rosiers. You can easily access this smart neighborhood by taking either the Metro Saint Paul (Line 1) or Hotel de Ville (Line 1,11). Alternatively stay in one of an increasing number of chic hotels in the area.
Shop for: Bohemian and vintage fashion
Cafe Stop: Miss Manor
How to get here: Line 1 or 11
Best sales: For about six weeks after Christmas and six weeks in the summer
PICASSO MUSEUM
Address : 5 Rue de Thorigny 75003 Paris
An elegant mansion in the Marais, housing the definitive collection of works by Picasso ' thousands of paintings, drawings, sketches, sculptures and other artworks. They span the artist's career and show the development of his style. The museum also shows Picasso's own collections of paintings (Cezanne, Rousseau, Braque, Derain, and Miro) and African tribal art.
Address : 5 Rue de Thorigny 75003 Paris
An elegant mansion in the Marais, housing the definitive collection of works by Picasso ' thousands of paintings, drawings, sketches, sculptures and other artworks. They span the artist's career and show the development of his style. The museum also shows Picasso's own collections of paintings (Cezanne, Rousseau, Braque, Derain, and Miro) and African tribal art.
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