In the center of Paris nestled in the River Seine are the two celebrated islands, the Ile de la Cite and the Ile St. Louis. Today it is famed for the great, brooding cathedral of Notre-Dame and the dazzling Sainte-Chapelle. If Notre Dame represents church, another major attraction of this walk – the Louvre – symbolizes state. Louvre is the greatest museum in the world, as well as the one of the easiest to get lost in. All in all this area comprises some of the most historic and beautiful sights to see in Paris.
NOTRE-DAME – Notre-Dame is the symbolic heart of Paris and, for many, of France itself. Napoleon was crowned here, and kings and queens exchanged marriage vows before the altar. There are a few things worth seeing inside the Gothic cathedral, but the real highlights are the exterior and the unforgetable view of Paris, framed by stone gargoyles, from the top of the south tower. Begun in 1163, completed in 1345, badly damaged during the Revolution, and destroyed by the architect Eugene Viollet-le duc in the 19th century, Notre=Dame may not be France's oldest or largest cathedral, but in beauty and architectural harmony it has few peers. Notre-Dame was one of the first Gothic cathedrals in Europe. It was also one of the first buildings to make use of flying buttresses – exterior supports that spread out the weight of the building and its roof.T he most tranquil place to appreciate the architecture of Notre-Dame is from the lovely garden behind the cathedral, Square Jean-XXIII.
Metro Station: Cite
LOUVRE – the Louvre is packed with legendary collections including Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.. To get into the Louvre, you may have to wait in two long lines: one outside the Pyramide entrance portal and another downstairs at the ticket booth. Once inside you should stop by at the information desk to pick-up a free colour-coded map and check which rooms are closed for the day.
GRAND PALAIS – With its curve glass roof, Grand Palais is unmistakable when approach from either Seine or the Champs-Elysees, and forms a turn of the 20th-century Beaux Arts showpiece with the Petit Palais on the other side of Avenue Winston Churchill. Toda the Grand Palais plays host to major exhibitions. Its smallest counterpart, the Petit Palais, set just off the Champs-Elysees, presents a permanent collection of French painting and furniture, with splendid canvases by Courbet and Bouguereau. Opens Teusda – Sunday 10-6 pm. Admission: 11 euro.
Metro Station: Champs-Elysees-Clemeceau.
JARDIN DU TUILLERIES – Monet and Renoir captured this gracious garden with paint brush. A palace once stood here on the site of a clay pit that supplied material for many of the city's tile roof. (Hence the name tuilerrie, or tile work). Now the Tuilerries is typically a French garden: formal and neatly patterned, with statues, row of trees, fountains with gaping fish, and gravel paths . Admission is free.
Metro Station: Tuilerries.
PLACE DE LA CONCORDE – this majestic squatre at the foot of the Champs-Elysees was laid out in the 1770s, but there was nothing in the way of peace or concord about its early years. Between 1793 and 1795 more than a thousand victims, including Lous XVI and Marie-Antoinette, were sent into oblivion at the guillotine. The top of the 107-foot Obelisk – a present from the victory of Egypt in 1833 – was regilded in 1998
. Metro Station: Concorde
SAINTE-CHAPELLE – this Gothic chapel was built by Louis IX in the 1240s to house what he believed to be Christs Crown of Thorns, purchased from Emperor Baldwin of Constantinople. St.-Chapelle is essentially an enormous magic lantern illuminating the 1,130 figures from the Bible, to create – as one writer poetically put it – "the most marvelous coloured and moving air ever held within four walls". Opens daily 9:30am-6pm. Admission:7 euro.
Metro Station: Cite
PONT NEUF (NEW BRIDGE) – Crossing the Ile de la Cite. Just behind the Square du Vert-Galant, is the oldest bridge in Paris, confusingly called the New Bridge – the name was given when it was completed in 1607, and it stuck. It was the first bridge in the city to be built without houses lining either side, allegedly because Henri IV wanted a clear view of Notre-Dame from his windows at the Louvre. Mtreo Station: Pont-Neuf.
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