| The scintillating highlights of Paris are known and revered across the globe. From museums to monuments, gardens to esplanades, art to architecturally gorgeous and culturally rich neighborhoods, Paris has it all and much more. If it is your first time to Paris, those must-sees and must-dos so oft-touted are indeed worth the gander. Les Champs-Elysées, an enormous, illustrious boulevard built by Haussman, lined today with shining department stores, pricey shops, and towering streetlamps, and always jammed during holiday events such as Bastille Day or New Year’s Eve, leads to the imposing Arc de Triomphe. The great arch was erected in 1836 in honor of the French Army; over eight hundred war veteran’s associations still uphold this tradition by lighting a commemorative flame every day at six-thirty p.m. for soldiers lost in combat. There is a small museum inside that houses photography, textiles, and other artifacts from the nineteenth century, and offers individual and group tours for a price. The view from the Arc’s wide, flat top is exquisite; boulevards stretch out in all directions, lined with sculpted buildings, churches, parks, and monuments. On clear days you can see the Tour Eiffel in the distance, serving as a pleasant reminder that you can be nowhere but Paris. Despite the rather amusing fact that an image of the Eiffel Tower is precisely what suggests France beyond a shadow of a doubt, when it was first constructed in 1889 by the engineer Gustave Eiffel, everyone thought it an abhorrence; only its potential use as a radio tower kept it from being destroyed. Today, the view from the top is beyond compare, if expensive to access.
You cannot leave Paris without visiting Ile de La Cité, an island in the middle of the Seine and Paris’ historical center, holding the famed cathedral Notre Dame de Paris and its neighboring chapel Sainte-Chapelle. Paris’ Notre Dame was built sometime between the 12th and 14th centuries, and is almost always in the process of renovation, but is no less awe-inspiring for it; lined with intricate gargoyles and enormous wheels of stained glass, its two towers seem to stretch to the heavens (as its original builders most likely hoped). Sainte-Chapelle is smaller in size, but not in grandeur: the soaring colors of nearly 6,500 square feet of stained glass windows along the cavernous walls of the chapel will certainly take your breath away. And if you ever wanted to see the original Mona Lisa or the statue of Venus de Milo, now’s your chance: the massive, and massively reknowned Musée du Louvre is fabulous, if overwhelming – if you had a week, you wouldn’t be able to see all of the artistically, historically, and culturally precious objects on display here. Musée D’Orsay, also requiring far more than an afternoon’s perusal, was once a railway station, and now holds an enormous collection of impressionist work, primarily from the second half of the nineteenth century, a truly golden age for Paris. Don’t pass up the Basilique du Sacré Coeur, the shining white cathedral that tops the hilly neighborhood of Montmartre; its gilded interior and impressive views from domed towers (as well as the charming groups of musicians, artists, and postcard-sellers that grace its grandiose front terrace and steps) are beautiful, though sometimes crowded. If you want grandiose, try the Hall of Mirrors in the glorious Château de Versailles: this gold-and-crystal hallway is seventy meters long and filled with dangling chandeliers reflecting on the mirror-lined walls. The acres of exquisitely manicured gardens and fountains outside the château are equally impressive.
In addition to the coveted sights themselves Paris also has a tremendous amount of interesting neighborhoods to explore. Ask anyone who knows Paris and they’ll reel off a mouthful of good areas to see – everything from classic strolls up the Champs Elysées to finding the new hotspot a little off the beaten track, outside of the teeming center. St. Germain des Prés in the sixth arrondissement was once the home of Paris’ most beloved intellectuals and existentialists, and its interesting bookstores and cafés, art galleries, and excellent restaurants maintain that richly creative and stimulating ambiance. Les Halles, in the heart of the city at the first arrondissement, home to the Louvre and the Place Vendôme, is decidedly gorgeous and teeming with tourists. Once the hotspot for open-air food markets and bloodstained butchers, now les Halles can guarantee a late-night snack and some great shopping. The Quartier Latin (5th arrondissement) is a throbbing intellectual mecca, housing la Sorbonne, le Panthéon, several famous parks, and all the student hangouts, fragrant cafés, and second-hand bookstores a centuries-old university quarter could ask for. Montmartre can claim not only the celebrated Sacré Coeur, but also beautifully antiquated streets and shops, good restaurants, and the famous Place du Tertre crammed with street artists selling their wares and sketching portraits and goofy caricatures. In the quartier St. Michel, expect to be harassed – in a good way – by the dozens of aggressively friendly restaurant hosts who’ll approach you as you pass and goad you into sampling their delicacies. Quartier du Marais is one of the best areas of Paris to visit if you want a taste of all those adjectives we travelers crave: hip, snazzy, quaint, artsy, and bohemian-bourgeois; although the neighborhood is well-to-do and overflowing with excellent restaurants, fun bars, boutiques, historic sites, and hotels, it is also one of the most open-minded and unconventional, and boasts the largest gay community in Europe. The quartier chinois (in the 13th arrondissement) hosts a colossal Chinese New Year celebration each January; the quartier juif, centered on the Rue des Rosiers in the Marais, is home to a vibrant Jewish community and some of the best challah and falafel you’ve ever tasted. If you’re looking for a good place to hit the bars, quartier Bastille is likely to have something for everyone – from plush and velvety wine bars to a dozen hot-to-trot dance clubs. There are also many little working-class corners of Paris that are abuzz with new life, such as the Canal St. Martin in the 10th arrondissement – artists and designers are beginning to flock here, as well as mom-and-pop shops, restaurants, and cozy cafés. |
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