Paris – The Light City, A Unique City!

There are numerous beautiful cities in the world that millions of people wish to visit. But it seems as if there’s only one in which romance, good taste and luxury blend in a perfectly harmonious manner, where history meets modernism without antagonizing, where you can visit the most remarkable museums in the world but also the darkest and most sordid underground tunnels….welcome to Paris!!!

In the last 150 years, Paris became a model of civilization and urban organization, one of the most envied and admired cities in the world. Numerous cities compared themselves with it – some call themselves “Little Paris” or “Paris of the East” or “Far East Paris” – did you ever hear of a city that wanted to be called “London of the East”? I didn’t.

First of all, to truly enjoy a Parisian atmosphere the best thing is to go in May…it’s warm, all the trees are green, the Parisian people are happy that the warm weather finally arrived in order for them to easily present their outfits, the whole city buzzes. What do you have to do? Well, easy, to walk around…there are thousands of obscure corners outside the tourist circuit that can just make you feel good….obviously if you come here for the first time you have to check also the standard attractions.

Well, first of all you cannot get rid of the Eiffel Tour – truth be told, if you get rid of it, he won’t get rid of you – because of it’s imposing height it’s visible from many corners in Paris. If you arrive by plane from East, try sitting at the window on the right side of the plane and you’ll discover Paris from up in the air – it’s just then you’ll truly realize how big this tower really is, which during the construction years was pretty controversial – ”it’s hideous” yelled the aesthetes (it’s true though, in Paris the number of aesthetes per inhabitant is pretty high), “it will fall down at the first strong wind blow” yelled the frightened ones…. Opened in 1889, the Eiffel tower resisted through two World Wars, three republics, two world football cups and millions of visitors… in fact, I don’t even know when to tell you to go visit it – there are enormous queues all the time.. but it’s mandatory to visit it day time and night time – these are two incredible shows and extremely different one from the other. Oh… and I have one more secret to reveal – if you really do not wish to stay at the queue, you can make a reservation at the Jules Verne restaurant at the second floor – here also you have to think in advance – it’s extremely popular. Taken over in 2007 by Chef Alain Ducasse, one of France’s great Chefs, today the Jules Verne restaurant became a landmark on the French gastronomic map – a three course lunch costs around 75 euros and a seven course dinner can lead up to almost 200 euros…and let’s not forget the wine, we are in France, pardon!

After a beautiful panorama and a plentiful dinner isn’t it time for some culture? There are hundreds of theatres and museums in Paris, in order to visit them all you need a good couple of years! But a lot don’t want to miss the Louvre. This museum is gigantic, you cannot see it unless you stay at least a couple of days inside, but you can obtain from the entrance a map of the most important exhibits to see the things you know from books seen thousands of times on TV – either if it’s the Mona Lisa or Victory of Samothrace , Venus from Milo or some Delacroix painting, in the museum there are approximately 35,000 art pieces – impossible not to find something to your taste.

Dizzy from so many artworks? Next to the Louvre, there is the famous Jardin des Tuilleries. Until the 1789 revolution, only the aristocracy could walk around here, but this privilege was abolished 200 years ago. So thousands of people flock every year in order to see the gorgeous garden, that during the 90’s hosted the legendary concert Oxygène by Jean Michel Jarre.

Paris means fashion, so there’s shopping. Not very far from the Louvre (clothes are art as well), in the Rivoli area, on narrow streets there are the boutique shops of the most important designers in the world. Tired from the shopping and with your hands full? How about a coffee break at the Ritz hotel…it’s one of the most famous hotels around the world, although for ten years its name is associated with the tragic accident of Princess Diana. But still, the Ritz remains the “grand dame” of European hotels, an opulent classic, splendid, a real jewel that never goes out of fashion. Its restaurants are famous, a real culinary treat. Did you know though that you can find out some of the secrets of this cuisine? Ritz organizes a Ritz Escoffier school where anybody can learn from the secrets of the Ritz gastronomy… It doesn’t cost much, only 530 euros for a three day lecture, but after these three days you will be able to prepare the famous Peach Melba cake, created by Auguste Escoffier himself in 1892 in London.

Hmmm…I’m already hungry so I’ll go eat something…maybe not Peach Melba…but I’ll come back to Paris some other time…just like Victor Hugo wrote hundreds of pages about the hunchback of Notre Dame, I, myself can write hundreds of pages about Paris.

How to get to Paris

Plenty of planes, trains and busses go to Paris. Paris has 3 airports – two for full-service airlines (the biggest one is Charles de Gaulle, the hub of Air France and Orly) and one for low-cost airlines, at Beauvais, quite far away (c 100 km from the city itself). Countless trains connect Paris with all of France and neighboring countries, including the famous Tunnel, so it is not a problem to find a good offer, wherever you come from.

Where to stay in Paris

From hostels (auberge de jeunesse) to 5 star hotels, you can find everything in Paris. For cheaper hotels search the northern area, not very far from Pigalle.

Pcitures of Paris:

Sena river

Bonne apetite

The pyramid from Louvre

Champs Elysees

Do you recognise the building?