In One Day
Because time is wasting, arise early and begin your day with some live "theater" by walking the streets around your hotel -- Right Bank or Left Bank, it doesn't matter at this point. This walk can acclimate you to the sights, sounds, and smells of the City of Light faster than anything, and it gets you centered before catching a taxi or hopping aboard the Métro for a ride underground to your first attraction.
We suggest you duck into a cafe for breakfast, and it doesn't matter where. On virtually every street in Paris, there is usually more than one cafe.
Any neighborhood will provide a slice of Parisian life, so order breakfast as thousands of locals do. Sit back, enjoy, and breathe deeply before beginning your descent on Paris. Start: Métro to Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre.
1. Musée du Louvre
You know you must see the Louvre, perhaps the greatest museum of art in the world. You wouldn't dare go home without storming that citadel. Because it opens at 9am, be among the first in line.
We've been going to this repository of art for years and, on every visit, discover something we've overlooked before. This palatial treasure trove is richly endowed, and some of its art is the most acclaimed on earth. With your clock ticking, at least call on the "great ladies of the Louvre": the Mona Lisa with her enigmatic smile, the sexy Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory (alas, without a head). Try to allot at least 2 hours of viewing time for some world-class masterpieces. Around 11am, go for a walk along:
2. The Quays of the Seine
After leaving the Louvre, walk south toward the river and head east for a stroll along the Seine. You'll encounter the most splendid panoramic vistas that Paris has to offer. Trees shade the banks of the river, and 14 bridges span the Seine. So much of the city's fortune has depended on this river, and you'll be in the nerve center of Paris life as you stroll along.
You'll see Paris's greatest island on the Seine, the Cité, emerging before you. Cross over the:
3. Pont Neuf
The oldest and most evocative of the bridges of Paris, Pont Neuf dates from 1578 and still looks the same. From the bridge, the view down (or up) the river is perhaps the most memorable in Paris. Walk down the steps emerging on your right along Pont Neuf to:
4. Square du Vert Galant
The steps take you behind the statue dedicated to Henri IV to the square du Vert Galant at the western tip of Ile de la Cité. The square takes its designation from the nickname given Henri IV, meaning "gay old spark." The square is the best vantage point for viewing Pont Neuf and the Louvre. As you stand on this square, you'll be at the "prow" of Cité if you liken the island to a giant ship. After taking in that view, continue east, pausing at:
5. Place Dauphine
This square -- perfect for a picnic -- was named in honor of the Dauphin, the future Louis XIII. It faces the towering mass of La Conciergerie, whose gloomy precincts and memories of the French Revolution you can save for another visit to Paris. With time moving on, head east along:
6. Quai des Orfèvres
This Seine-bordering quay leads east to Notre-Dame. It was the former market of the jewelers of 17th- and 18th-century Paris. Marie Antoinette's celebrated necklace, subject of countless legends, was fashioned here. The quay leads you to:
7. Sainte-Chapelle
This Gothic chapel is sublime, and entering its upper chapel is like climbing into Tiffany's most deluxe jewel box. As the colored light from the 13th-century windows shines through, you'll bathe in perhaps the most brilliantly colored "walls of glass" in the world. Taking in the deep glow of these astonishing windows is one of the great joys of a visit to the City of Light. The windows, the oldest in Paris, are known not only for their brilliant colors, but also for the vitality of their characters, including everybody from Adam and Eve to St. John the Baptist and the Virgin.
After a visit, it's time for lunch. Because first-day visitors have little time to absorb Left Bank life, here's your chance.
Continue east along quai des Orfèvres until you come to the Pont St-Michel. Cross the bridge to the Left Bank of Paris, arriving at the Latin Quarter centering on:
8. Place St-Michel
One of the inner chambers of Left Bank life, this square was named in memory of the ancient chapel of St-Michel that stood here once upon a time. The square, a bustling hub of Sorbonne life, centers on a fountain from 1860 designed by Gabriel Davioud, rising 23m (75 ft.) high and stretching out to 5m (15 ft.), a "monster" spouting water. A bronze statue depicts Saint Michael fighting the dragon.
Why not do lunch in one of the most evocative of all Left Bank bistros?
Allard -- Arm yourself with a good map to reach Allard, which is only a 5-minute walk southwest of place St-Michel. You can easily get lost in the narrow maze of Left Bank streets. Little has changed at this classic bistro with its mellow decor and traditional menu. Against a nostalgic ambience of Paris of the 1930s, you can join cosmopolitan patrons enjoying the sole meunière or canard d'olives, finishing off with that most divine pastry known to all Parisians as tarte tatin. And, yes, if you've never tried them before, you'll find frogs' legs on the menu. 41 rue St-André-des-Arts, 6e. tel. 01-43-26-48-23.
After lunch, walk back to place St-Michel.
Still on the Left Bank, continue east along quai St-Michel until it becomes quai de Montebello. At the "green lung" or park, square Rene Viviani, pause to take in the most dramatic view of Notre-Dame across the Seine. Then cross the bridge, Pont au Double, to visit the cathedral itself.
9. Cathédrale de Notre-Dame
In so many ways, the exterior is more exciting than the vast and hollow interior that, since its denuding during the French Revolution, is almost tomblike. One of the supreme masterpieces of Gothic art, Notre-Dame cathedral still evokes Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. You stand in awe, taking in the majestic and perfectly balanced portals. After a walk through the somber interior, climb the towers (around to the left facing the building) for a close encounter with tons of bells and an eerie inspection of what are history's most bizarre gargoyles, some so terribly impish that they seem to be mocking you.
After Notre-Dame, take the Métro to the:
10. Place de la Concorde
This octagonal traffic hub, built in 1757, is dominated by an Egyptian obelisk from Luxor, the oldest manmade object in Paris, from 1300 B.C. In the Reign of Terror at the time of the French Revolution, the dreaded guillotine was erected on this spot to claim thousands of heads. For a spectacular view, look down the Champs-Elysées.
The grandest walk in Paris begins here, leading all the way to the Arc de Triomphe. It's a distance of 3.2km (2 miles) and is the most popular walk in Paris.
However, because your afternoon is short, you may want to skip most of it, taking the Métro to Franklin D. Roosevelt and continuing west from there. At least you'll see the busiest and most commercial part of the:
11. Champs-Elysées
Called "the highway of French grandeur," this boulevard was designed for promenading. It's witnessed some of the greatest moments in French history and some of its worst defeats, such as when Hitler's armies paraded down the street in 1940. Louis XIV ordered the construction of the 1.8km (1 mile) avenue in 1667. Without worrying about any particular monument, stroll along its avenue of sidewalk cafes, automobile showrooms, airline offices, cinemas, lingerie stores, and even hamburger joints. The Champs has obviously lost its fin-de-siècle elegance as evoked by Marcel Proust in Remembrance of Things Past. But then, what hasn't?
At the end of the broad boulevard, you approach:
12. Arc de Triomphe
The greatest triumphal arch in the world, the 49m (161 ft.) arch can be climbed for one of the most panoramic views of Paris. The arch marks the intersections of the 8th, 16th, and 17th arrondissements. Sculptures, including François Rude's famous La Marseillaise, depicting the uprising of 1792, are embedded in the arch.
After a visit, and with the afternoon fading, take the Métro to the Champ de Mars-Tour Eiffel for an ascent up the:
13. Tour Eiffel
It's open until 11pm or midnight, so don't worry about missing it. A close encounter with this tower, a 10,000-ton dark metal structure is more inspiring up close than when seen from afar. A source of wonder since the 1889 World Exposition, this 317m (1,040 ft.) tower was the world's tallest building until the Chrysler Building went up in New York in 1930. If the afternoon is clear, you can see for 65km (40 miles).
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