ALLPARISGUIDE

Musée de l’Armée

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:21:58 +0000

One of the world’s largest in this field, its extensive collections of weapons, armor, flags, uniforms and paintings trace the evolution of warfare from prehistoric days to World War II. Inevitably, Napoleonic relics abound but other periods such as the Second Empire and both World Wars are equal well displayed. Free movies relating to World War I and II, a library, a print room and a photo gallery and the Emperor’s tomb.

Les égouts de Paris

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:46:03 +0000

The sewers (égouts), Pont de l’Alma, Quai d’Orsay have, for some bizarre reason, become a popular tourist destination.
One of Haussmann’s greatest accomplishments, this vast 1,305 mile underground network which also contains telephone wires and electricity cables can be seen on a guided tour that includes a film and photographic display.

Domaine de Vaux-le-Vicomte

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:22:04 +0000

Near Melun, 28 miles southeast of Paris, lies Vaux-le-Vicomte, one of France great baroque châteaux. Its colorful history, apart from its face, is so extraordinary that it needs to be known beforehand. The land itself was bought in 1641 by Louis XIV’s power-hungry minister of finance. Regent of France until Louis XIV came of age, Fouquet was also a great patron of the arts and passed on some of his immense fortune to the likes Molière, La Fontaine, and Madame de Sévigné.
In the château itself, after entering through the hall with its 12 Doric columns don’t miss the Salon des Muses, with the Brun’s painted ceilings illustrating nine different muses. Here Molière and his troupe acted L’Ecole des Maris for the first time, with Queen Henrietta-Maria of England and Fouquet as audience.

Château of Fontainebleau

admin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:46:14 +0000

A magnificent vast forest of 42.000 acres, once a royal hunting ground, surrounds the marshy terrain of the château, number two in the French royal domain stakes after Versailles. Apart from touring the imposing palace, visitors can indulge in horseback riding, cyclin, rockclimbing, or simply walking in the forest. Only a few miles to the north lies Barbizon, famous for its mid-19th century school of landscape painters. A former hunting lodge dating from the 12th century, the château was transformed into a major royal residence by François I in the 16th century, he brought the best of Italy’s Renaissance artists and craftsmen to decorate its lofty interior and laid out the garden with lakes and canals. Le Nôtre stepped in during the mid-7th century to redesign the garden, and the palace itself underwent numerous modifications and additions over the years before being finally adopted by Napoleon as a suitably majestic base.

Bois de Boulogne

admin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:39:39 +0000

Nearly 2000 acres of park and playground make up western Paris’s lungs, well frequented on weekends by the better-heeled inhabitants from nearly Neuilly and the 16th arrondissement. A favorite medieval hunting ground, in the 18th century it became an aristocratic leisure ground. Finally, Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann gave the park the form it has today and made it public. It is awash with lakes, waterfalls, follies, winding paths, and open spaces, with two racetracks : Auteuil and Longchamp. Its noctural users (transvestites, prostitutes) are a very different race from the jogging businessmen of the morning hours.

Ile Saint-Louis

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:12:31 +0000

Densely inhabited by successful literati and a cosmopolitan breed of wealthy business people, the Ile Saint-Louis has become an exclusive residential area inevitably frequented by tourists. One long street that runs from end to end is a mass of restaurants and shops more geared to foreigners than to locals , although many residents swear by the quality of the food shops. Locally produced, world-famous ice cream is a strong attraction, but the architectural unity and beauty of Le Vau’s 17th century townhouse and the elegant comfort they exude make neck-craning the favorite pastmite here. One of Paris’s best views is from the western tip of the island along the Seine.

Ile de la Cité

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:55:03 +0000

Historically the heart of Paris, the Ile de la Cité boasts three major monuments : Notre-Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, and the Conciergerie. Also strong on government buildings such as the Palais de Justice, the Hôtel-Dieu and the Préfecture, the result is a bizarre mixture of the sublime and the banal. Some residents manage to squeeze in between the medieval monuments, living along the quais or on the delightful place Dauphine, while the flower market occupies a square behind the Préfecture, constantly passed by police cars and ambulances that, sirens wailing, tear past the soaring Gothic towers of Notre-Dame. This relaxed eclecticism is perhaps symbolic of the entire city : nothing is sacred, but every area eventually has its monument.

Pont-Neuf

admin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:49:46 +0000

Paris’s oldest bridge, the Pont-Neuf, is also its most famous. Built to facilitate the king’s journey between the Louvre Museum Palace and the abbey of St-Germain-des-Prés, its innovative, houseless design was controversial. Flamboyant as ever, Henri IV inaugurated it in 1607 by galloping across on his charger; and today his equestrian statue still dominates the stretch. For years this was the site of a permanent funfair, attracting jugglers, acrobats, and street sellers, painted by Turner, the Pont-Neuf was also ceremoniously wrapped up by the artist Christo in 1985.

Saint-Germain-des-Prés

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:30:40 +0000

Tranquilly cradled at the heart of Paris, St-Germain-des-Prés remains eternally magnetic for the visitor and resident alike. Modern incursions are rare and the atmosphere still has something of the Paris of history, literature, and cinema. The pace seems more leisurely than on the other side of the river, cafés still play their traditional role, and backstreet bistros whisk diners back half a century or so. Aproned waiters and waitresses scold as they are reputed to, and the residents still include a fair share of eccentrics and/or intelligentsia.
Origins Symbol of its genesis, the Eglise St-Germain-des-Prés dates frmthe late 10th centurt, when it was part of a Benedictine monastery which replaced a 6th century abbey. By the 14th century it was surrounded by a fortified wall, which disappeared with the Age of Enlightenment to make way for housing and the new nobles of the Faubourg St-Germain to the west. Badly damaged during the Revolution, only one of its original three towers remains, but the massive flying buttresses of the choir, among the oldest in France, remain intact. As usual, the 19th century brought much retouching and both the nave and the choir contain murals by Flandrin from that period.

Chinatown

admin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:11:57 +0000

Following world tradition, Paris has its very own Chinatown in the 13th arrondissement, spreading south from the place d’Italie through the rue de Tolbiac to the Porte de Choisy. Asians are now said to constitute 10 percent of the population of this arrondissement, and China is by no means the only country of origin. Squeezed between high-rises, pagoda-like shopfronts crammed with Chenese curios jostle with a fantastic variety of eateries on all scales, from Hong Kong-style canteens to more intimate Laotian, Cambodian, or Vietnamese places. Clubs, dance halls, and gambling dens also contribute to the atmosphere, but these are usually out of bounds to westerners, as the fortunes changing hands are illegal.