Paris Attractions - Paris Sightseeing

Paris Airports

Irvin — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:47:41 +0000

ORLY AIRPORT
Twelve and a half miles (20 km) to the south of Paris.
Travel into Paris
The Orly/Rail (RER, line C) will take you to Gare d’Austerlitz and stations on the Left Bank. Trains leave every
15 minutes from 05.30 to 23.00 and take about 35 minutes. There are two bus possibilities. The cheaper Express Bus goes direct to Denfert-Rochereau Métro near Montparnasse in the 14e on the Left Bank. It takes about half an hour and buses leave every 15 minutes from 6.00 to 23.00. Or you can get the Air France bus to Aerogare des Invalides in the 7e, which is a bit nearer the centre, or to the Gare Montparnasse, avenue du Maine, 7e. Buses leave every 12 minutes and the journey should take about 35 minutes.

ROISSY-CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT
Fourteen miles (23 km) to the northeast of Paris.
Travel into Paris
The free airport bus will take you to the RER train station for connections to Paris. This is the quickest and most direct route. In 40 minutes you will be at the Gare du Nord from where you can either get a taxi (sometimes there are queues so be warned) or change onto the Métro. You can also continue by train to Châtelet-les-Halles which is nearer to the centre and from where it is easier to get a taxi. Trains leave at 15-minute intervals between 05.30 and 23.00.

You can buy your already discounted metro tickets online…

The direct Air France bus (every 15 minutes) will drop you at porte Maillot in the 17e, or at the place de Charles-de-Gaulle-Etoile from where you can get a taxi or the Métro. Buses run between 05.45 and 23.00. You should allow at least one hour on the bus. Cheaper and slower are the regular buses : no 350 to the Gare du Nord and the Gare de l’Est and 351 to the place de la Nationa. Allow at least 50 minutes by taxi.

Jardin des Tuileries

Irvin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 08:31:15 +0000

Opposite the place de la Concorde. Sixty acres (24 hactares) designed by Le Nôtre stretching from the place de la Concorde to the place du Carrousel, inclunding a splendid Orangerie which houses temporary exhibitions and the Jeu de Paume museum, now renovated to house major temporary exhibitions of 20th century art. A mini Arc de Triomphe built in 1805 commentares Napoleon’s victories, smaller than the real one which you can see by taking the path through the centre of the gardens.

Le Lido

Irvin — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:10:33 +0000

8th arr., 116 bis avenue des Champs-Elysées
At the Lido, past and present shows are one and the same thing, which is to say they are always marvelous, impeccable, diabolically controlled, lavishly tricky and artificially dazzling. Who cares if there are busloads of Japanese tourists, soccer team members and auto dealers in the room? After all, it is dimly lit. Besides, there are also bare-breasted girls appearing out of the ceiling, helicopters battling one another among the stars, typhoons devastating the stage in a stream of foam, stage areas vanishing underground, and dolphins cavorting in a pool. Sets are forever going up and down, turning around, and vanishing in the most elaborate mechanized stage in the world. Then why is it that some people are bored by it all? Because many of these sets are so overdone and infinitely cretinous that many spectators grow instantly tired of seeing them. Thank heaven there are a lot of absolutely perfect traditional nimbers performed by jugglers, illusionists, contortionists and acrobats. Only the Lido can offer you that.

Book your dinner and or shows at the best price!

Jardin des Plantes

Irvin — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:38:40 +0000

5th arr.
The Sun King’s once-glorious botanical gardens, with their 10000 specimens and association with the flower of French Science (Buffon, Lamarck, Lavoisier), were allowed to deteriorate so badly that many of the buildings had to be razed. However, thanks largely to the efforts of crusading journalists, the tide has turned. Parisians have again begun to show up en masse along the charming labyrinth’s shaded walks, inspecting the rare species of trees, the sea lion’s pool, and the grounds where children used to play and chess tournaments were held; the Jardin d’Hiver (winter garden) filled with the fragrance of countless plants from cold climates, and, last but not least, the huge greenhouse with its dizzying jungle of plants and rows of cacti. Today herbal botanists are again working enthusiastically over the seasonal beds of plants, and the public marvels as the entirely mauve-colored Judas tree, the aromas of the botanical garden and the huge Lebanese cedar brought back by Jussieu and considered, by Bouvard and Pécuchet (two characters from a Flaubert novel) to be nature’s tree of knowledge. Considerable (though insufficient) fubds are currently being spent to renovate both the greenhouse and the museums of mineralogy and paleontology. A vast zoological museum, to house one of the world’s older and more complete collections of stuffed specimens, is scheduled for construction in the near future.

RER

Irvin — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:27:36 +0000

The RER is the fast suburban service which will take you to places like Versailles (much cheaper than an organised excursion). The lines are divided into sections and the cost of a ticket (you can use the sames ones as on the buses or the Metro within the metropolitain area) varies according to the number of sections you cross.

Louvre Museum

Irvin — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 11:18:46 +0000

Next to the Tuileries Gardens on the Right Bank of the Seine, a former royal palace undergoing massive expansion that will make it the biggest museum in the world by 1992 with even more treasures on display (many of them are at present in the cellars), and escalators to make those long walks down endless corridors less tiring.
The glass pyramid, designed by the Chinese-American Pei, at the entrance from Cour Napoléon is open, but the excavations will continue for several years. The Ministry of Finance is due to move out to Bercy.
There are seven different museums in the Louvre : Oriental Antiquities, Egyptian Antiquities, Greek and Roman Antiquities, Painting, Sculpture, Furniture and objets d’art. Top of your list should be Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory and Venus de Milo.
There is no possibility of being able to do it all at once, so pick out the works you particularly want to see, and do your best to find them.

You don’t want to stand in line to buy your ticket! Get your Louvre Museum Pass.

Paris Metro

Irvin — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:08:32 +0000

The entrance to many of Paris’s Metro stations can be spotted in the streets by their distinctive art nouveau designs and huge M signs. The various lines are numbered and are known by the names of the stations at each end, the correspondances are the points at which lines join. Look for signs for the relevant direction you are travelling in and follow the colour-coded and numbered lines. Changing lines is quite easy once you get the hang of it.
There are usually large plans of the whole network outside each station, some with illuminated buttons which are fun to operate. There is also a Metro map on the back of the free map of Paris from the Tourist Office. Outside some stations (number increasing daily) there are computerised route finders called SITU (système d’information de trajets urbains). You tap in the name of the street you want to get to and get a print-out of the quickest way to get there, including walking. Most stations are quite cheerful inside with gaily coloured plastic seats and matching tiles, plus videos to watch to while away the time. The Louvre station is an extension of the Museum, with works of art displayed in cabinets along the platform. There are the usual buskers but in Paris they do it in style, playing jazz and classical music on trains as well as off. Some of them may well be students from the Conservatoire National. There is a warning siren just before the doors close ans you release the door yourself if you want to get off.

Eiffel Tower

Irvin — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:53:12 +0000

7th arr., Champ de Mars
1.0007 feet high, built as a monument to the Great Exhibition of 1889. One of the most famous landmarks but these days less popular with visitors than the Beaubourg. You can take a lift to the viewing platforms (1st, 2nd and 3rd) or climb the 1.710 steps as far the top from where the views, on a clear day, extend for some 45 miles. There is an audio-visual of the history of the tower on the first stage, and bars and restaurants including the highly regarded Jules Verne restaurant on the second floor of the south leg, with its own pricate lift, one of the very best restaurant in Paris.

Cimetière Montparnasse

Irvin — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:52:13 +0000

14th arr., 3 bvd Edgar-Quinet
Here, too, as you stroll along the cemetery’s rectilinear walkways, you’ll come across some of the most illustrious names in French literature, art, history and science. Montparnasse’s 36 acres of graves include those of Huysmans, François Coppée (next to eighteenth-century Charité Mill), Théodore de Banville, Sainte-Beuve, Leconte de Lisle, Léon-Paul Fargue, Guy de Maupassant and Charles Baudelaire. Is it by chance that Vincent d’Ingry’s grave is right next to Saint-Saëns. Or that Alfred Dreyfu’s tomb is next to his attorney’s. Fortuitous or not, the names go on and on, with Soutine, Fantin Latour, Othon Friesz, César Franck, Emmanuel Charbrier, Rude, Houdon, Bourdelle, Sartre. Many of the monuments are picturesque, like the tall white stone with a bare-shouldered young girl attempting to draw a rose (a student’s tribute to their teacher), or the extravagant mausoleum depicting Mme Pigeon who, armed with her husband’s lamp, is trying to brighten up the universe.

The Sacré-Coeur and Montmartre

Irvin — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:38:45 +0000

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.