Synonymous with romance and luxury, the capital of gourmet cuisine and haute couture, both a model of classicism and modernism, Paris is always among the top three most visited places in the world. He really ignites passions and, as we know, is present in the plot of almost every second Hollywood movie.
If for this reason it seems too banal for someone to travel so simply to Paris :), he could take a slightly longer tour of the north of France, seeing the amazing Mont Saint Michel in Normandy and the magnificent castles on the Loire a little later. south (details of such a route can be found in the post From the castles of the Loire to Mont Saint Michel . But the other places, despite its dazzling brilliance, are only the rays, the sun remains Paris.
Paris – the most romantic city in the world
Here are some of the more popular sights and routes in the city that you can focus on:
• The Louvre (Le Louvre) – the most visited art museum in the world, a former royal residence, and today – a huge repository of artifacts, distributed in collections including a variety of art genres, decorative arts, Egyptian antiquities, works of Roman, ancient Greek, Islamic art. One of the busiest halls at all times is the one with the famous “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci. The museum preserves many other masterpieces of names such as Raphael, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Rubens, Velazquez, etc. Crowds are constantly gathering around the statues of Venus de Milo, Nike of Samothrace and the statue of Michelangelo’s The Rebellious Slave. The magnificent apartments of Napoleon III are also of interest to a wide range of visitors.
In the corridors of the Louvre
Because it is not possible to examine the Louvre thoroughly in one day – its corridors exceed a total length of 16 km., And the exhibition area is about 60,000 square meters. – It is better to mark in advance the works that are important to you and the halls in which they are located. This will save you the disappointment of wiping your walking shoes in a few hours without seeing almost anything that matches your interests.
• Very close to the Louvre are the Tuileries Gardens , Place de la Concorde and Madeleine (St. Mary Magdalene Church). The most famous boulevard in the world , the Champs Elysees , starts up from Concord Square, and at the opposite end – Charles de Gaulle Square – you will be greeted by the famous Arc de Triomphe . Just walk along the Champs Elysees and you will fully understand Joe Dassin and “Aux Champs-Elysee“ ”; it will even sound in your head, as if you wrote it?
• Notre -Dame de Paris or the Notre Dame de Paris. The Gothic cathedral on the island of Cité on the Seine, built between the 12th and 14th centuries, is considered a pinnacle of French art and architecture, setting the forefront of Gothic style. And it really is!
The fountain in Place de la Concorde, Paris
• The Eiffel Tower(Tour Eiffel) is probably the most popular symbol of the French capital, although quite exploited, and even to the point of shaking :). However, climbing to its highest point really reveals unique views for photos of Paris. And from there one can most obviously notice how the buildings and streets are arranged like a model, assembled according to the drawings of an architect – a perfectionist. It also has a name – Hausman, chosen by Napoleon III to transform the city by changing its medieval appearance to a more modern one. Today’s Paris owes its wide boulevards, parks and immaculate buildings, equally lined with beige stone and wrought-iron balconies. In the evening, the tower is brightly lit, and the park around it is a pleasant and lively place, where Parisians at any time organize picnics in the middle of the city with a bottle of good wine.
• Near the Eiffel Tower you can take a boat for a walk on the Seine , from which you get a chance to see and photograph the beautiful bridges and facades of architecturally remarkable buildings located along the river.
Notre Dame de Paris
• Museum of D’Orsay . One of these buildings around the Seine is the former railway station and hotel, which was turned into an Impressionist museum in the 1980s. For lovers of Impressionism, there is hardly another place richer in the collections of artists who worked in France after the middle of the 19th century from the so-called. Salon of the rejected and formed a new trend in art. This is a paradise for fans of Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas, Pizarro, Van Gogh (although especially for him the house-museum in Amsterdam also includes a large number of works), Gauguin, Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec. We also recommend the souvenir shop at the museum, which offers ingenious options for how to take home an object that is both useful and emotionally charged with his favorite picture.
• The Luxembourg Gardens with the Palais de Maria de ‘Medici – one of the largest parks in Paris. The palace with amazing flower gardens, statues and fountains was built in the early 17th century by the will of Maria de ‘Medici, similar to the Pitti Palace in her native Florence. A fashionable place for walks among the French nobility in the past, today the palace is a place for sessions of the Senate of the French Parliament. The park is located on the borders of the Latin Quarter and near the Sorbonne. The neighborhood, which has a real student atmosphere, is populated by many colleges and universities, and its very name comes from the Latin language, which was taught in the Middle Ages. In the same place you will find some of the liveliest bars and bistros in the city.
Museum of D’Orsay – Van Gogh, 1890
• Montmartre Hill with the Artists’ Square and the Sacre Coeur Basilica at the top. The picturesque streets of Montmartre carry the spirit of many famous artists who worked in their studios there such as Picasso, Dali, Van Gogh and others. In the area around Montmartre is the famous cabaret “Moulin Rouge” (Moulin Rouge).
• The Palace of Versailles in the town of the same name, 30 km from Paris, must be included in every trip to the French capital for cultural and educational purposes. Transformed from a castle into a royal palace and the site of the de facto rule of France during Louis XIV, Versailles is one of the most famous palaces in Europe, part of the UNESCO World Heritage List. In Versailles you can still see the decor of palace life in the time of the Sun King – a life full of luxury and splendor, but also with all sorts of intrigue and betrayal.
The gardens of the Palace of Versailles
The long list of landmarks in Paris also includes: the Home for the Disabled , the Pantheon with the remains of Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Voltaire, Marie Curie and other prominent Frenchmen, the Pere Lachaise Cemetery , where Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Bizet, Balzac are buried , Bellini, Edith Piaf and other great figures in human history, Place Vendôme , the Opera House , the Montparnasse district , and many, many more.
Paris has many more faces, but it would be best to find them yourself. In a way, it itself looks like a real French wine – after drinking it dissolves into a lush bouquet of aromas, turns your head and leaves a long aftertaste.?
