Paris in 3 days...,
The French capital is in rich in museums, art galleries and monuments.
The Louvre museum, home of the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, along with the Eiffel Tower and the Pompidou Centre are among the most popular sights.
For ‘chateaux/palaces’ aficionados, Paris’ suburbs offer Versailles and further out, Fontainbleau.
The Musee d’Orsay is also a favourite with art lovers. The majority of its exhibits are paintings and sculpture which include the work of celebrated artist such as Gaugin, Renoir, Monet, Manet, Cezanne, Toulouse Lautrec..etc. One of the three floors is dedicated to Impressionism and Neo Impressionist Art.
For those who fancy a shopping spree, Les Tuileries have two of Paris’ foremost shopping streets, the rue de Rivoli and rue St-Honore, which are laid with exclusive boutiques and expensives hotels. Place Vendome is home to world renowned jewellery shops and the Ritz Hotel. Huge department stores line the ‘grand boulevards’ of the Opera Quarter.
Another favourite is the Avenue des Champs Elysees which has been the ‘triumphal way’ ever since the home-coming of Napoleon’s body from St Helena in 1840. The ‘Champs’ are today an ideal place to go for a slow pace stroll and taste the charm of the Parisian life. Crowning the ‘Champs’ is the ‘Arc de Triomph’ which is regarded as one of the world’s most famous triumphal arch. Napoleon commissioned it following his greatest victory, the battle of Austerlitz in 1805. He had pledged that his men would “go home beneath triumphal arches”. In 1920 the body of the Unknown Soldier was placed beneath the arch to commemorate the dead of WW1. The view from the arch’s platform is magnificent.
For the younger audience, Paris has two main amusement parks: Parc Asterix, which theme is based on the stories of Asterix by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny and Disneyland Paris, which does not need introduction.
