Paris Attractions - Paris Sightseeing

The Sacré-Coeur
Cupolas topped by an icing sugar dome, famous on Paris’s skyline (you can see if from the escalator outside the Georges Pompidou Centre). Built at the end of the 19th century, at the top of Montmartre with views of around 30 miles from the dome. The campanile is 262 feet high. Catholic visitors from the world over come to light their candles. Steep climb up or funicular from the Marché Saint-Pierre.

Montmartre
The old artist’s quarter topped by the icing sugar dome of Sacré-Coeur, sadly overrun by visitors having their portraits etched and sketched in the place du Tertre at the top of the hill. You can get a funicular up or walk on the quiet southwest side up the rue Lepic. Once a the top there are a number of open-air cafés, with accompanying accordionists and wonderful views across Paris from the Sacré-Coeur. To the east is the Marché Saint-Pierre, which sells colourfull fabrics. There are ethnic shops in the surrounding streets. Property is cheap and there are plenty of reasonably priced hotels. The sleazy boulevard Clichy and boulevard Pigalle are at the bottom of the hill. To the north of Montmartre is the flea market at the Porte de Clignancourt.

18th arr., 82 bvd de Clichy
The Moulin Rouge is the Lido‘s outlet in Pigalle. The management is the same, the food is the same, and so are the busloads of tourists. The amount of ostrich feathers is the same, as is the quality of the shows, and the Doris girl’s bosoms are every centimeter the equal of those of their Bluebell cousins. Yet the Moulin Rouge is probably the best address of its kind in Paris, if not the world. Since it isn’t equipped with the same stunning machinery as the Lido, it features revues that are beautiful choregraphed and designed. The memories of Valentin le Désossé, La Goulue, and a crippled genius named Toulouse-Lautrec are duly evoked during the finale when the cast performs a frenetic French cancan that is imitated elsewhere but never equaled.