Paris
The city of romance, cafés, bistros and artists.
☛ ILE DE LA CITE MUSEUMS GARDENS CHAMP D'ELISEES LATIN QUARTER MONTMARTRE MOULIN ROUGE OTHERS PARTICULAR PLACES DISNEY VERSAILLES
L'Île de la Cité
The Île de la Cité was the heart of ancient Paris, the Celtic, Roman, and medieval heart. Here is the St. Chapelle, the Notre-Dame Cathedral which today cannot be visited yet after the terrible fire and the Pont Neuf. This stunning stone bridge is the oldest in Paris; it was erected in 1578 and owes its name "Ponte Nuovo" to its very modern characteristics for the time: the first bridge without houses and to have a sidewalk.
Louvre and D'Orsay Museum
The Louvre Museum is one of the largest museums in the world with priceless masterpieces and over 35,000 art objects. To visit it all you need a whole day, but if you have 3 hours available you can admire the main works such as the Egyptian rooms with the Hammurabi code, Hellenic and Arab history, the Mona Lisa (and the huge amount of people around) , Italian and French painters (Géricalut's Raft of the Medusa, Raphael, Botticelli and Titian), the Nike of Samothrace, Cupid and Psyche, the Venus de Milo and the apartments of Napoleon III. The 21 cm high glass Great Pyramid located above the main entrance is impressive.
The Museum d'Orsay is our favorite museum in Paris both for its location inside the old Orsay station and for the enclosed works that span the period between 1848 and 1914 such as Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Renoir, and Gauguin.
🎫 Ticket to buy in advance – Louvre link (open until 21.45 on Fridays) - D'Orsay link
Tuileries Gardens
In front of the Louvre are the Tuileries Gardens which extend for 28 hectares along the Seine and have been declared a UNESCO heritage site. In summer they are splendid: children play with boats in the fountains and people cool off in the shade of the trees on the benches and at the tables of the kiosks.
Champs d'Elisées and Arc de Triomphe
At the edge of the Tuileries Gardens is the Place de la Concorde, the Champs d'Elisées and the Arc de Triomphe. The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is the shopping and fashion street, almost 2 kilometers long, it becomes the city's hub on New Year's Eve and during the last stage of the Tour de France. The Arc de Triomphe is at the crossroads of 12 avenues, a symbol of the French Revolution, of the Napoleonic Wars, and contains the body of an unknown soldier who died during the First World War remembered with a perennial flame. Going up inside the arch, you can access the panoramic terrace.
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower was built by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Universal Exhibition to celebrate the first anniversary of the Revolution. Symbol of Paris and among the most famous monuments in the world. It is 324 meters high with three levels open to the public and long lines at the entrance. Beautiful in the evening because of the lights that decorate it and during the national holiday of July 14 (Bastille Day) when it is framed by fireworks. The best places to admire it: are Trocadero, the Champs de Mar gardens, and the Sacré-Coeur Basilica.
Latin Quarter and Sorbonne
The Latin Quarter is lively with cafes, crepe kiosks, restaurants, groups of all ages who meet to dance, students, and teachers. The name derives from the fact that the schools where Latin was taught once stood here.
In this area, you can visit the Pantheon and the Sorbonne. The Pantheon was dedicated to the patroness of Paris and a symbol of the monarchy, but after the Revolution, it was secularized and became a patriotic building: Voltaire, Rousseau, Zola, Pierre, and Marie Curie rest here. Under its dome, you can admire the Foucault pendulum demonstrating the rotation of the Earth.
The Sorbonne University is one of the oldest universities in France. Founded in 1257 as the faculty of theology, it has housed the faculties of science and literature since 1885. The square of the same name is full of places frequented by students where you can meet interesting people.
Montmartre and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart
The Montmartre district is located on a hill of 130 meters. It was the place of the Parisian Belle Epoque with its halls and cafés with a bohemian lifestyle that attracted numerous artists and writers. Wide stairways, cobbled streets, and houses with wooden shutters define an irresistible picturesque atmosphere, especially from sunset. Although it is very touristy, it still manages to convey strong emotions to those who visit it.
Here is also another symbol of Paris: the Basilique du Sacré Cœur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart) with its staircase where people gather to admire the city and drink a beer in company. It took 40 years of work and it was finished in 1919 thanks to the offers of Parisian Catholics; if you are not too tired from the walk to reach it, you can also climb the dome.
Pigalle and the Moulin Rouge
Located at the foot of Montmartre Hill, there is the Pigalle district with the Moulin Rouge. It opened its doors for the first time in 1889 and was an instant success. It became the largest night meeting place in the capital, suitable for the bourgeois who wanted to spend moments of lightness with the girls, as well as for painters and writers who let themselves be inspired by the exhilarating environment of the cabaret. The most famous dance was the Quadrille created in 1850 by the dancer Céleste Mogador; this was adapted by the English producer Morton who brought it to the London stages as a French Cancan. The dancers made a big fan with their legs in the air, lifting their skirts and showing dresses of black underwear and garters that charmed the customers.
🍴 Near the Moulin Rouge is the historic Bouillon restaurant, which stays open until late at night and is visited by young people and patrons of the night. Here are traditional Parisian dishes, tasty and at very reasonable prices.
Other special places in Paris
The wall of "I love you", is located at the foot of Montmartre on Square Jehan Rictus, Place des Abbesses, 10 meters by 4 tiles with 311 “I love you” in all the languages and dialects of the world.
Père-Lachaise Cemetery is a very suggestive place where there are the tombs of great historical figures such as Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Chopin, Delacroix, Modigliani, Balzac, Molière, Marcel Proust.
The Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou was inaugurated in 1977 and is known for its important collection of modern art (surrealism, cubism, pop art) and its resolutely innovative with tons of colored tubes decorating the building. There are also two galleries for temporary exhibitions, a restaurant with a view, a cinema, and entertainment spaces.
Marais means "swamp" and it was in 1612 century that Henry IV had the place des Vosges built - the oldest square in Paris - transforming the district into one of the most elegant and wealthy residential areas of the capital. The ancient Parisian Jewish community still lives here today and most of the buildings from the pre-revolutionary era are preserved intact. While on place des Vosges there is the hotel, now a museum, where Victor Hugo lived.
The catacombs of Paris from the 18th century are among the largest necropolises in the world. There are 300km of tunnels, but it is only possible to go through two of them.
Nearby excursions:
The Palace of Versailles is located 30 minutes from Paris and is one of the most sumptuous places in the world. It can be reached by RER train or by car or bus from the city center.
Here the Re Sole vI moved the court in 1682 and remained there until the French Revolution. The most famous room is the Gallery of Mirrors, used as a place of passage and as a place of ceremonies only for diplomatic receptions or royal weddings. Here the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, which ended the First World War and, since then, the Presidents of the French Republic have received the official guests of France. Another enchanting place is the gigantic park with fountains, statues, the Grand Canal where gondolas were also placed, the little wood of the ballroom, the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon. Link wikipedia
How to reach: RER line C (yellow) train from Gare d'Austerlitz – St.Michel -Notre Dame – Musee d'Orsay – Invalides – Pont de l'Alma – Champ de Mars Tour Eiffel and get off at Versailles Rive Gauche. Cheap, lasts 40 minutes and trains run every 15-20 minutes. Then from the stop it is about 15 minutes on foot.
One of the most loved and frequented attractions by young and old is Disneyland Paris. It is located 30km from the capital and is one of the largest amusement parks in the world with attractions, restaurants, shops, concerts, shows and hotels: a real city of entertainment. The main attractions are divided into five major theme parks: Walt Disney Studios Park, Discoveryland, Fantasyland, Frontierland and Adventureland. With the FastPass you can avoid the long queues; there are also interesting offers for the “park and hotel” packages.
How to reach: by direct RER A train from Charles De Gaulle-Etoile, Auber, Chatelet-Les-Halles, Gare de Lyon and Nation stops to Marne-la-Vallée station/ Chessy (then a few minutes on foot) or with the Magic Shuttle from Paris airport.
Helpful tips:
✈️ The main airports are: Roissy Charles De Gaulle (CDG) and Orly (ORY). Usually, low-cost airlines such as Ryanair land at Beauvais Tille airport (BVA) and it takes about 1h30 by bus or train to get downtown.
🚇 Metro map: link
🛌 To sleep in a hotel with parking for the car or motorbike the area is convenient the area of Place d'Italie. Otherwise, all other central areas are perfect. For those who are curious to stay in a multi-ethnic and very local neighborhood, we recommend the Gard du Nord and Gar du l'Est area.
🥐 Food: obviously the pan au chocolat, tartare (which often it is the ground and not the tartare as we usually understand it), omelets, sweet and savory crepes (the Breton galette is perforated and very good), escargot (snails), quiche (savory pie), foie gras (duck or goose liver), boeuf bourguignon (meat stew).
Good trip!
Comments