The Right Bank (Rive Droite)

 

- Start with a tour of the top of the Arc de Triomphe, built to celebrate Napoléon I's victories.

- Then, walk down the famous Champs-Élysées, lined with innumerable shops and restaurants.  (The latter are very touristy, so we generally avoid them.) 

- Some distance down the Champs-Élysées from the Arc de Triomphe is the Nef du Grand Palais. Across the avenue, you can catch a glimpse of the French presidential residence, le Palais de l'Élysée. Unfortunately, the palace can only be visited once a year during the Journée Européenne du Patrimoine. 

- Further down the Champs-Élysées is the Place de la Concorde (formerly, Place Louis XV, Place de la Révolution, and Place Louis XVI), where King Louis XVI was guillotined on January 21, 1793. (Many more were to meet a similar fate during the ensuing Reign of Terror.)  Today, the place is home to one of two obelisks from the Luxor Temple in Egypt (the two obelisks were given to King Louis-Phillippe in 1845 in exchange for a tin clock still on display at the Cairo Citadel. Transporting the first obelisk proved to be extremely difficult. Consequently, As a result, the other obelisk was never sent to France; it was officially restituted to Egypt by President François Mitterrand in the 1980s. On the south side of the place is the Palais Bourbon, home of l'Assemblée Nationale, the lower chamber of the French parliament. On the north side of the place, stop by the luxurious Hôtel de Crillon for tea at the Jardin d'Hiver or for lunch at Les Ambassadeurs. 

- On the east side of Place de la Concorde, you'll find the Jardin des Tuileries and the largest museum in the world and former residence of the kings of France, Le Louvre. The Jardin des Tuileries is named after the Tuileries Palace, which once formed the western wing of the Louvre but was destroyed in 1871 during the Paris Commune. Tip: Access the museum from the Carrousel du Louvre shopping mall (see below). The line is usually much shorter than the main entrance at the glass pyramid.

- Don't forget to walk along rue de Rivoli. Today, it is one of Paris's most expensive streets. But when it was first laid, Napoléon had the French state erect the façades and induced reluctant wealthy Parisians to buy them and then build behind them (look carefully at street corners and you'll see how the façades are distinct from the buildings behind them). Rue de Rivoli is home of one of our favorite venues for brunch, Le First, located inside the Westin hotel. The brunch includes seafood, small vérines, and French pastries and other desserts--essentially, small portions of all varieties of French food you can imagine. An absolute must! Le First closes for the summer months, but the Westin serves food in its central courtyard--what it calls its Summer Terrace.

- Should you choose to walk north, you'll find our favorite brasserie, Le Bistrot Victoires. Make sure you order the entrecôte au thym brûlé (burned thyme-flavored T-bone steak). It's awesome! And don't miss a little tour of the Place des Victoires. Here, too, you'll notice how the façades and the buildings behind them are separate structures.

- If you continue east along rue de Rivoli, don't overlook Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, a beautiful little Gothic church and gateway of the Les Halles quarter. 

- Before 1786, Les Halles didn't exist; the neighborhood was a giant cemetery, the Cimetière des Saints-Innocents. Oddly enough, in 1786, the remains were removed to make way for Paris's principal market, Les Halles.  Don't worry, though, the farmers' market was since closed and replaced by the Forum des Halles shopping mall in the 1970s. Today, work is wrapping on up a 21st century reimagining of that space. Les Halles is now covered by La Canopée. If, however, you are intrigued by the morbid past of this area, you will want to pay a visit to the Catacombs of Paris on the Left Bank, where the remains of millions of Parisians were sent when the Cimetière des Saints-Innocents closed to clear the way for Les Halles. 

- Don't miss l'Église Saint-Eustache. The church's painfully slow construction started in 1223, and it has never been finished:  one of its two towers is still missing. Still, the interior is gorgeous, and the organ is a masterpiece. Find your way behind the church and walk down rue Montorgueil with its many traditional shops. Stop at the Rocher de Cancale for a giant salad. 

- Also a few steps from the Forum des Halles is the Centre Georges Pompidou. The avant-garde and controversial building was part of the urban renewal of the area in the late 1970s and pays tribute to President Georges Pompidou's taste for modern and contemporary art; he never saw the museum finished as he died in office of cancer (Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia) in 1974. Although most people think the numerous pipes that are visible are for show, they each have a use and their color designates their purpose: heating, air conditioning, etc.  Book a table or stop for drink at Le Georges. The view, the food, the service, and the design of the space are all spectacular.  Or simply spend some time on the terrace of the Café Beaubourg, opposite the Centre Pompidou, for some (gay) people watching. 

- Don't miss the Hôtel de Ville, home of the mayor of Paris, and stop by the nearby BHV department store (Bazaar de l'Hôtel de Ville) for some shopping. 

- Still going east, you'll walk toward Le Marais. Don't forget to check out the Place des Vosges (built by good King Henri IV) and the Marché des Enfants Rouges (the oldest farmers' market in the city). It's open every day except Monday, but opening hours vary. Stop by Le Bouledogue for lunch or dinner or, if it's Sunday brunch, by Benedict.

- Keep heading east and admire the Place de la Bastille, where the French Revolution started on July 14, 1789. It was the site of the prison destroyed in the July 14 assault.  Two hundred years later, President François Mitterrand dedicated the prison's ultimate replacement, the Opéra Bastille. Don't miss the river port of the Arsenal and its garden. 

- From the Place de la Bastille, walk on the Promenade Plantée, a suspended park built on a former train line--today, it's one of Paris's best walking tours. It is also the project that inspired New York City's High Line. 

- If you're tired of going east, head back to the core of the city for a tour of (or even better, a show at) Paris's other opera house, the Palais Garnier. Don't fail to stop at the Café de la Paix for a mille-feuille.  After your visit, take in the neighborhood with a stroll from the Place Vendôme to the Place de la Madeleine.  Near the Madeleine Church are the famous épiceries, Hédiard and Fauchon. (Hédiard is closed for renovations as of summer 2017; Fauchon just completed its remodeling.) If you're (still) hungry, stop by Le Comptoir in the latter's cellar--it has a great cave, and the food is outstanding. 

- If you prefer the high road, head to the hills--specifically, Montmartre.  It boasts quaint little streets and shops, the famous Sacré-Coeur basilica, and a million-euro view of the City of Light.