Things to do in Paris
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Conciergerie
The Conciergerie was built as a royal palace in the 14th century, but later lost favour with the kings of France and became a prison and torture chamber. During the Reign of Terror (1793–94) it was used to incarcerate alleged enemies of the Revolution before they were brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal, next door in the Palais de Justice.
Among the almost 2800 prisoners held in the dungeons here (in various ‘classes’ of cells, no less) before being sent in tumbrels to the guillotine were Queen Marie-Antoinette (see a reproduction of her cell) and, as the Revolution began to turn on its own, the radicals Danton, Robespierre and, finally, the judges of the Tribunal…
reviewed
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Centre des Monuments Nationaux
The aristocratic mansion, Hôtel de Sully, dating from the early 17th century today houses the headquarters of the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, the body responsible for many of France’s historical monuments; there are brochures and lots of information available on sites nationwide. Here you’ll also find the Jeu de Paume – Site Sully, a branch of the more famous Galerie de Jeu de Paume, with excellent rotating photographic exhibits. Visiting both galleries costs €8/4. The Hôtel de Sully bookshop is excellent, and the two Renaissance-style courtyards are worth the trip alone.
reviewed
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London Day Trip from Paris by Eurostar
by Viator
The tour begins with a meet and greet service where you will be given your tickets to board the Eurostar to London at 8:07am.lt;pgt;You will arrive at St…Not LP reviewed
from USD$293.63 -
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Musée du Quai Branly
No other museum in Paris provides such inspiration for travellers, armchair anthropologists and those who simply appreciate the beauty of traditional craftsmanship. A tribute to the incredible diversity of human culture, the Musée du Quai Branly, which opened in 2006, presents an overview of indigenous and folk art from around the world.
Divided into four main sections – Oceania, Asia, Africa and the Americas – the museum showcases an impressive array of masks, carvings, weapons, jewellery and more, all displayed in a refreshingly unique interior without rooms or high walls. Be sure to check out the temporary exhibits and performances, both of which are generally…
reviewed
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Chez Papa
Chez Papa serves all sorts of specialities of the southwest, including cassoulet (€17.95), pipérade (€15.40) and garbure (€18.05), but most diners are here for the famous salade Boyarde, an enormous bowl filled with lettuce, tomato, sautéed potatoes, two types of cheese and ham – all for the princely sum of €8.90 (or €9.75 if you want two fried eggs thrown in). There’s a Grands Boulevards branch ([tel] 01 40 13 07 31; 153 rue Montmartre, 2e; [metro] Grands Boulevards) and a 8e branch ([tel] 01 42 65 43 68; 29 rue de l’Arcade, 8e; [metro] St-Augustin), which open noon to midnight Sunday to Thursday and till 1am at the weekend.
reviewed
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Église St-Eustache
This majestic church, one of the most beautiful in Paris, is just north of the gardens next to the Forum des Halles. Constructed between 1532 and 1637, St-Eustache is primarily Gothic, though a neoclassical facade was added on the western side in the mid-18th century. Inside, there are some exceptional Flamboyant Gothic arches holding up the ceiling of the chancel, though most of the ornamentation is Renaissance and even classical. Above the western entrance, the gargantuan organ, with 101 stops and 8000 pipes dating from 1854, is used for concerts (long a tradition here) and at Sunday Mass at 11am and 6pm.
reviewed
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Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine
Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, in the Palais de Chaillot’s eastern wing, is a mammoth 23,000 sq metres of space spread over three floors and devoted to French architecture and heritage. The highlight is the light-filled ground floor, which contains a beautiful collection of 350 plaster and wood moulages (casts) of cathedral portals, columns and gargoyles, and replicas of murals and stained glass originally created for the 1878 Exposition Universelle. The views of the Eiffel Tower from the windows are equally monumental.
reviewed
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Les Pipos
A feast for the eyes and the senses, this bar à vins is above all worth a visit for its food. Its charcuteries de terroir (regional cold meats and sausages) is mouth-watering, as is its cheese board, which includes all the gourmet names (bleu d’Auvergne, St-Félicien, St-Marcellin etc). No credit cards.
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Musée Départemental de l’Oise
The outstanding Musée Départemental de l’Oise is housed in the former bishops’ palace with its distinctive round bastions just west of Cathédrale St-Pierre. It has sections dedicated to archaeology, medieval wood carvings, French and Italian paintings (including a number of gruesome 16th-century works depicting decapitations), ceramics and art nouveau. Highlights include the Dieu Guerrier Gaulois de St-Maur, a slender and aristocratic-looking Celtic warrior made of hammered sheet brass in the 1st century AD; the early-17th-century funerary monument of nobleman Charles de Fresnoy; and a wonderfully complete, late-19th- century art nouveau dining room.
reviewed
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Paris to Bruges Day Trip
14 hours (Departs Paris, France)
by Viator
Include a day trip to the charming town of Bruges in Belgium's Flemish region on your Paris holiday. You'll visit one of the most beautifully preserved medieval…Not LP reviewed
from USD$207.82 Advertisement
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Paris in One Day Sightseeing Tour
7.5 hours (Departs Paris, France)
by Viator
Want to see Paris in one day? To experience the best of Paris in a single day, take this Paris "walking tour" tour with a difference! You'll travel by river…Not LP reviewed
from USD$166.26 -
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Musée de la Défense
A trip to this space located just below the Espace-Info information centre is a real highlight. Drawings, architectural plans and scale models trace the development of the district from the 17th century to the present day. Especially fascinating are the projects that were never built: the 750m-tall Tour Tourisme TV (1961) by the Polak brothers; Hungarian-born artist Nicholas Schöffer’s unspeakable Tour Lumière Cybernetique (1965), a ‘Cybernetic Light Tower’ that, at 324m, would stand at the same height as the Eiffel Tower; and the Tour sans Fin, a ‘Never-Ending Tower’ that would be 425m high, but just 39m in diameter. Ouch.
reviewed
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Paris Seine River Dinner Cruise
3 hours 30 minutes (Departs Paris, France)
by Viator
Spend an evening gliding along the Seine River in Paris aboard a riverboat. You'll enjoy a three-course dinner and drinks on your cruise along the Seine,…Not LP reviewed
from USD$199.77 -
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Mémorial de la Shoah
Established in 1956, the Memorial to the Unknown Jewish Martyr has metamorphosed into the Memorial of the Shoah – a Hebrew word meaning ‘catastrophe’ and synonymous with the Holocaust – and an important documentation centre. The permanent collection and temporary exhibitions relate to the Holocaust and the German occupation of parts of France and Paris during WWII; the film clips of contemporary footage and interviews are heart-rending and the displays instructive and easy to follow. The actual memorial to the victims of the Shoah stands at the entrance, where a wall is inscribed with the names of 76,000 men, women and children deported from France to Nazi extermination…
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Le Casier à Vin
The bottle-lined walls, ham-cutting machine, wood-slat blinds and tatty mustard façade promise great things. Indeed, this much-loved bistro is a dining staple in most 15e Parisians’ daily lives. Titillate your tastebuds with a signature assiette de dégustation (tasting platter; €12.50) of fromage (cheese) or charcuterie (cold cuts), or go for a classic like pot au feu de canard (duck stew) or tartare de bœuf (steak tartare). After the main course, sweeten your tastebuds with a bowl of riz au lait à l’ancienne (old-fashioned rice pudding) and leave in love with the place.
reviewed
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Versailles Independent Day Trip from Paris
4 hours (Departs Paris, France)
by Viator
Slt;spangt;ee Versailles your own way on a do-it-yourself tour from Paris. Perfect if you prefer to travel independently, the tour includes transportation and…Not LP reviewed
from USD$73.74 -
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La Cabane à Huîtres
Wonderfully rustic, this wooden-styled cabane (cabin) with just nine tables is the pride and joy of fifth-generation oyster farmer Françis Dubourg, who splits his week between the capital and his oyster farm in Arcachon on the Atlantic Coast. The fixed menu includes a dozen oysters, foie gras, magret de canard fumé (smoked duck breast) or smoked salmon and scrumptious desserts.
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Musée Nissim de Camondo
The Nissim de Camondo Museum, housed in a sumptuous mansion modelled on the Petit Trianon at Versailles, displays 18th-century furniture, wood panelling, tapestries, porcelain and other objets d’art collected by Count Moïse de Camondo, a Sephardic Jewish banker who moved from Constantinople to Paris in the late 19th century.
He bequeathed the mansion and his collection to the state on the proviso that it would be turned into a museum named in memory of his son Nissim (1892–1917), a pilot killed in action during WWI. It is part of Les Arts Décoratifs, the trio of museums in the Louvre’s Rohan Wing.
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Place Vendôme
Octagonal place Vendôme and the arcaded and colonnaded buildings around it were constructed between 1687 and 1721. In March 1796 Napoleon married Josephine, Viscountess Beauharnais, in the building at No 3. Today the buildings surrounding the square house the posh Hôtel Ritz Paris and some of the city’s most fashionable boutiques.
The 43.5m-tall Colonne Vendôme (Vendôme Column) in the centre of the square consists of a stone core wrapped in a 160m-long bronze spiral made from hundreds of Austrian and Russian cannons captured by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. The statue on top depicts Napoleon in classical Roman dress.
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Jadis
This upmarket neo-bistro on the corner of a very unassuming street in the 15e is one of Paris’ most raved about (ie reserve in advance). Traditional French dishes pack a modern punch thanks to the daring of rising-star chef Guillaume Delage, who braises pork cheeks in beer and uses black rice instead of white.
The lunch menu is extraordinarily good value and the chocolate soufflé – order it at the start of your meal – is divine.
reviewed
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Harry’s New York Bar
One of the most popular American-style bars in the prewar years, Harry’s once welcomed writers like F Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, who no doubt sampled the bar’s unique cocktail and creation: the Bloody Mary. The Cuban mahogany interior dates from the mid-19th century and was brought over from a Manhattan bar in 1911.
There’s a basement piano bar called Ivories where Gershwin supposedly composed An American in Paris and, for the peckish, old-school hot dogs and generous club sandwiches to snack on. The advertisement for Harry’s that occasionally appears in the papers still reads ‘Tell the Taxi Driver Sank Roo Doe Noo’ and is copyrighted.
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Palais de Tokyo
The Tokyo Palace, created for the 1937 Exposition Universelle and now a contemporary art space, has no permanent collection. Instead its shell-like interior of polished concrete and steel is the stark backdrop for rotating, interactive art installations (the rooftop, for example, has been the setting for attention-getting projects like the transient Hotel Everland and the see-through restaurant Nomiya). Exhibition space was tripled in 2012.
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Art Nouveau Synagogue
The Art Nouveau synagogue, in the historic Jewish quarter, was designed in 1913 by Hector Guimard, who was also responsible for the city’s famous metro entrances.
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Paris Main d’Or
The unprepossessing, cafélike ‘Paris Golden Hand’ serves authentic Corsican dishes to an appreciative audience, many of them coppers (traditionally the preferred form of employment among Corsicans in the capital). Sturza preti (spinach and fine brocciu cheese; €9) and traditional omelette with brocciu and jambon sec (dried ham, matured for two years) are some of the appetisers on the menu. For mains, favourites include the tian d’agneau aux olives (lamb ragout with olives; €18) and the caprettu arrustini (roast kid; €21). Pasta dishes come in at about €11, the plat du jour is €9.50.
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Cojean
Cojean is one of the places that redefined the Parisian idea of a quick lunch. Where are those buttered baguettes with processed ham, hi-cal saucisson and chicken slathered in mayonnaise? Gone, gone and gone. Instead you get a Champs-Élysées chic interior and health-conscious fare (salads, quiches, soups) that probably would have met with bewildered looks a mere decade ago.
reviewed