World famous landmarks, dazzling architecture, lamplit bridges that span the river Seine and charming bistros that line the streets and squares. With its scenic splendour, café culture and hundreds of museums and art venues, there is always a captivating buzz about Paris. So, what to see if it’s your first time? Jeremy Flint shares Paris must-sees for first time visitors.

Best places for aerial views of Paris

It is impossible to imagine Paris without the Eiffel Tower, so any visit to this fascinating city must start here. The iconic and elegant technological masterpiece overlooks the Champ de Mars parc and Trocadero gardens (great for a picnic). At 320-metres tall, the wrought-iron structure is named after Gustave Eiffel, whose company built and designed it in the late 1800s. The views from every level are stupendous. If you’re feeling fit, head to the second level via a 704-step staircase. Or take the elevator to each level. The third floor has restaurants and bars.

Insider Tip: Head to the Champagne bar at the top for a special treat (and to avoid queues).

At one end of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, the 50-metre-high Arc de triomphe is the focal point of the city’s most iconic avenue. Built in 1836 to commemorate Napoleon’s victorious army and France’s military prowess, the elaborately sculpted Arc is free to visit at ground level. Paying visitors can climb the 284 steps (or take an elevator part way and climb the rest) to the observation deck at the top for breath-taking views of the Eiffel Tower and Basilica of Sacré Coeur.

Must-sees for first timers in Paris

Stroll along the UNESCO-listed riverbanks of the Seine and admire the sights including the bouquinistes, the green book-sellers boxes (the book trade has been plied here since the 16^th century), and Pont Alexandra III bridge with its ornate decorations, Art Nouveau lamps and huge gilded statues, from here you’ll have a fabulous view of the Eiffel Tower.

Place de la Concorde is where many were despatched by guillotine during the French Revolution, including King Louis XIV and Queen Marie-Antoinette. The square is home to two famous and picture-worthy fountains, and the 3,300-year-old Egyptian obelisk of Luxor and the Hôtel de la Marine. Like a miniature chateau, it was built to house the royal families overflow furniture and is now a marvellous museum.

The Musée d’Orsay, a former train station, houses a huge collection of magnificent masterpieces of French art and the view from the giant clock window is fabulous. Across the river, the formal 28-hectare Jardin des Tuileries filled with fountains, ponds and sculptures is a great place to sit and relax before tackling the Louvre, the world’s biggest museum which makes navigating it a fine art in itself. (The Good Life France podcast: the history of the Louvre and how to visit).

Give your feet a rest and take a boat cruise to see the sites from a Bateaux Mouches.

The Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Montmartre is a must-see. The Basilica is the second highest point in the city (after the Eiffel Tower) with impressive panoramic views over Paris, whilst its ceiling is decorated with the biggest mosaic in France. The nearby Place du Tertre is a perfect place to soak up the atmosphere of Paris.

If you dislike stairs be wary of the Abbesses metro stop which is recommended for visiting Montmartre and Sacré Coeur, but at 36 metres underground, it’s the deepest in Paris. If you’re elderly, lazy or exhausted, opt for Anvers (Metro line 2), which is kinder on the legs and a great approach to Sacré Coeur.

Many flock to see the great Cathedral of Notre-Dame on the Île de la Cité (due to reopen 8 December 2024). Don’t miss a visit to the ancient remains below the Cathedral, and a stone’s throw away is the 19^th century flower market, a hidden gem. And why not take a break at the nearby restaurant Vieux Paris d’Arcole. Aside from the astonishingly pretty façade and an incredibly ornate interior, the staff are super friendly.

Head to the Grande Mosquée, the oldest mosque in mainland France, to see its impressive 33-metre-high minaret and beautiful gardens.

Finally, detour to the Marché aux Puces de Saint Ouen – a vast labyrinth of flea market shops, or Marché des Enfants Rouges in the Marais district, it’s the oldest food market in Paris and opened in 1615. There’s a fun restaurant just around the corner called PNY which serves some of the best burgers in Paris.

Jeremy Flint is an award-winning professional photographer and writer specialising in travel, landscape and location photography.

Take a Perfect Paris Tour with Janine Marsh, author and editor of The Good Life France 

Want more France?

Discover more fabulous destinations in France with our free magazine The Good Life France

Love France? Have a listen to our podcast – everything you want to know about France and more!

All rights reserved. This article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten (including translated) or redistributed without written permission.

The post Paris must-sees for first time visitors appeared first on The Good Life France.

Paris to Lyon day trip

You can take the train to Lyon from three different stations, Paris Bercy, Paris Austerlitz and Paris Gare de Lyon but check the timetable carefully for the fast train, because slow trains take twice as long. I recommend you take the train from Gare de Lyon so that you can ogle, or indulge at the Train Bleu – the poshest station buffet in the world! It’s expensive, but it’s a very Paris experience. Decorated in neo-baroque style, think Versailles gold, glitz and glamour with gorgeous painted ceilings, chandeliers and soft banquettes. Stop for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a cheeky glass of something during the day. And fans of Mr Bean – this is the restaurant Bean dined at and emptied his oysters into a fellow diner’s handbag!

Gare de Lyon to Lyon Part Dieu station is easy – if you catch the 7.30 train in the morning you’ll be there before 9.30. And there are lots of trains back to Paris, the last one is at about 10 o’clock.

There’s tons to see in Lyon, and an amazing amount of superb restaurants – the city is known as the “Gastronomic Capital of France”. I would recommend lunch at a bouchon, a traditional workers restaurant, visit the covered food market, wander the old town and it’s traboules, the word for the narrow covered streets where the silk workers lived and worked as this used to be a very famous centre of silk production. And take the funicular railway to the top of the Fourvière Hill where there is a beautiful Basilica, built on top of a former Roman forum. Plus visit the Roman remains, like the wonderfully preserved amphitheatre,  and enjoy stunning views over the city.

Fun fact: There is a legend that in the year 832, 4 Lyonnais were seen emerging from a UFO! Of course everyone said oh no, it’s not aliens, it’s witchcraft but they did manage to persuade the right people that they were telling the truth. Lucky for them! Almost 800 years later in 1621 a UFO was reported in the skies above Lyon. And in 2015 the Raelian Sect – they believe in extra-terrestrial life – proposed to set up Earth’s first ever alien embassy in Lyon in Place Bellecoeur which is France’s largest pedestrian square!

Monet’s Garden Giverny – day trip from Paris

Now for somewhere completely different – we’re heading to the countryside of Normandy and the lovely little village of Giverny where Claude Monet lived. It’s just 45 minutes by train from Paris Saint-Lazare station, which looks pretty much just as it did when Monet painted it, to the Vernon-Giverny station. It’s about 3 miles to Monet’s house and it’s a flat path if you follow the Route de Giverny which follows the old railroad. Or you can take a taxi, or the shuttle bus which runs from Spring to Autumn when Monet’s house and gardens are open and that’s 10 euros return.

Monet actually first saw his house from a train carriage as the old railway line used to run along the part of the garden that is now home to the lily ponds. He moved there in 1883 with his second wife Alice and his two children and her 4 children. He became obsessed with the garden, and with water lilies that he grew in the pond and which inspired his famous “Water Lilies” series.

Most people don’t know that he had up to 7 gardeners helping him, these days there are 8 gardeners. Monet insisted that the gardeners polish the lily leaves to keep them perfect, and the gardeners grew grew roses, geraniums, daffodils, poppies and irises and plants that had rich colours because Money developed cataracts and saw colour better than detail, colour was everything to him. Today the gardeners stick to a list of plants that Monet grew and when you wander into the garden it’s like stepping into one of his paintings. His wife actually wasn’t happy with the way he grew flowers, she wanted a neater garden!

The house is wonderful, it feels like he just left the room to go and cut some flowers. The rooms are bright colours like the garden, yellow, blue and green. Pots and pans in the kitchen, Japanese prints that he loved on the wall alongside copies of his paintings.

The village of Giverny is well worth a visit too, it’s pretty much one street long, but lots to see and do. Great places for lunch or a snack including the Hotel Baudy where lots of artists stayed, and don’t miss a trip to the Hotel garden to see the art studio that looks just as it did when the artists stayed there such as Renoir and Cezanne. There’s also a museum, cute shops and a church where Monet is buried in the graveyard.

Provins, a medieval town near Paris

Let’s head now to the enchanting medieval town of Provins, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Just over an hour from Paris, this medieval gem offers a step back in time with its well-preserved walls and towers. Don’t miss the Rose Garden and the underground tunnels – a hidden labyrinth under the city! Some of the buildings here go back 1000 years.

What surprised me most is how big the city is, and that people are living in the medieval buildings – it’s extraordinary.

They host the biggest medieval festival in France here. It takes place usually in June (check their website) for two days and there are hundreds and hundreds of people dressed in medieval costume with dances, music, games, jousting, street performance and a traditional medieval ball plus a parade – it’s magnifique!

Paris to the Chateau de Chantilly day trip

Another castle you can visit really easily is the Château de Chantilly in Picardy, which neighbours Ile de France where Paris is. From Gare du Nord you take a train to Chantilly-Gouvieux which takes around 25 minutes. Then either walk to the chateau, about 25 minutes through the lovely town, or take a bus from outside the station, hire a bike at the station or take a taxi which takes about 5 minutes. If you take the train from Gare du Nord, when you buy your ticket – ask for a Pack TER Domaine de Chantilly which includes your train travel and ticket entry at a discounted price.

The castle is absolutely stunning, and you can easily spend a whole day here. Many famous aristocrats have lived here and the rooms are decorated and filled with incredible artworks including paintings by Botticelli, Van Dyke and Raphael, plus tapestries and furnishings, books and dazzlingly beautiful stained glass. There are also the most magnificent stables, and huge gardens. And… there is a legend that Chantilly cream was invented here.

In fact I am a Square of the Knighthood of Chantilly Cream Whippers! I visited Chantilly last year when I was a cruise of the Oise Valley in Picardy with CroisiEurope and a Knight of the Whippers showed us how to make Chantilly cream properly and I demonstrated that I could do it, ten long minutes of whipping – and I was inducted into the Brotherhood as a Squire, the lowest level, but I’m very proud of it! Here’s my top tip that I learned – when you whip the cream, icing sugar and vanilla together to make Chantilly cream, do it in a metal bowl that you fill with ice cubes and shake to make it super cold then empty, dry and whip in it. The Whippers call it a cul-poule which roughly – and in its polite translation – means “chickens bum” as they say shaking the ice cubes is like chickens shaking their butts to get the eggs out!

Do chickens shake their butts to get eggs out? Hmmm – answers on a postcard please!

Paris to Fontainebleau day trip

Anther Chateau you can visit is in Fontainebleau. It is the lesser-known cousin of Versailles but no less regal. Explore its opulent halls, lush gardens, and imagine the kings and queens who strolled here. And there’s even a lake for boating – very chic! For nature lovers, the Forest of Fontainebleau awaits. This isn’t just any forest; it’s a former royal hunting ground with dramatic landscapes and endless hiking trails. It’s a breath of fresh air and a favourite with Parisians looking for a nature escape (about 40 minutes by train).

Paris to the chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte day trip

Up next, the Chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte, a baroque masterpiece that inspired Versailles. This castle is so stunning that it made a king jealous enough to destroy the owner. It was built by a man called Nicolas Fouquet, the finance minister of King Louis XIV. It took 20 years to build and he employed the finest architects, garden designers and painters in the land. Just as it was almost finished, and the painters hadn’t quite completed some of the frescoes and the stone masons were still working on the statues that surround the castle – Fouquet held a party and invited the King who was so jealous of its beauty he stormed out and days later had Fouquet arrested on what were likely false charges and poor Fouquet never got to enjoy it, he died in prison.

And the statues were never finished – if you go you can see that some bits are still in block form! The chateau was bought by the de Voguë family some 150 years ago, it’s been beautifully restored and preserved. Alexandre de Vogue, the son of the count and countess who live there, told me that when he was a kid, and the chateau was opened to visitors, he had to rush around hiding his toys behind the curtains! The chateau is where the TV series Versailles was filmed as the décor and furnishings are so authentic. And it also also starred in the Bond film Moonraker!

Take a 30 minute train ride from Gare de Lyon to Melun, then taxi, bus or the chateau shuttle bus (peak visitor times).

Paris to Deauville day trip

Craving a seaside escape? Let’s head to Deauville. Think of it as the Parisian Riviera – chic, elegant, with a touch of glamour. Stroll along the promenade, enjoy the sandy beach, and if you’re feeling lucky, there’s even a casino. This is the town where Coco Chanel opened a shop in 1913 catering to the super rich who flocked here even then. And it’s where a famous film festival is held in autumn – and where you may bump into George Clooney, Angelina Jolie or Matt Damon – they’ve all been there for the festival. And all this, just a two-hour train ride away!

Paris to Chartres day trip

For our next adventure, we’re off to the medieval city of Chartres, famous for its stunning Gothic cathedral. But there’s more! Discover the quaint streets, charming boutiques, and the peaceful Eure River. Two hours by train.

Strasbourg, Alsace

At around 1 hour 50 minutes by TGV train from Gare de l’Est, the beautiful town of Strasbourg in Alsace is a fabulous day trip. Must-sees including a magnificent Gothic cathedral, it’s one of the most beautiful in France. Strasbourg has a fairy-tale like town centre, UNESCO listed Petite France district, and a network of canals which are perfect for a relaxing boat ride. There are heaps of museums, fabulous restaurants and superb wine bars where you can indulge in a glass of local Riesling or Gewurztraminer before you catch the train back to Paris. And, a year-round Christmas shop for a memorable souvenir even if you’re not there for the famous Christmas markets. Honestly, one day is not enough for this unmissable city…

Paris to Reims day trip

45 minutes by train from Gare de l’Est, lies Reims, the capital of Champagne. From the station you can walk to some of the best Champagne houses including Mumm (15-minute walk), and Charles de Cazanove (5 minutes) for a tour and tasting. On the outskirts of town, Ruinart is the favourite Champagne of the French and oldest Champagne house in the world. But you’ll need to take bus no. 3 from the station and walk 5 minutes from the Crayeres stop (total 20 mins – it’s worth it!). There are also loads of little boutique Champagne bars, where you can taste and buy affordable vintage Champagnes from the family-run company.

“The city of coronations” or “the city of Kings” as it’s known, houses the great UNESCO-listed cathedral Notre-Dame de Reims, where French kings were crowed for 1000 years.

Read more about Reims in our free magazine The Good Life France Magazine

Paris to Compiègne day trip

Compiègne in Picardy has a rich history and can be reached by train in less than an hour. It’s where Joan of Arc was captured. Visit the stunning palace, the historic forest, and if you’re a car enthusiast, there’s an incredible car museum. A perfect mix of nature, history, and technology!

Paris to Bordeaux day trip

You can even do a day trip to Bordeaux from Paris by train now! The superfast trains whizz you to Bordeaux in just two hours! From Bordeaux St Jean Station, hop on a tram to the city centre to discover the wonderful UNESCO listed architecture of the “Pearl of Aquitaine” as the city is known. Visit a unique wine museum, immerse yourself in art at the Bassins des Lumieres, a new art venue in the former WWII German submarine pens – such a beautiful place, it brought tears to my eyes when I went. Splash in the Miroir d’Eau water sculpture and soak up the ambiance of sunny Bordeaux with a glass of regional wine. Ancient churches, Place de la Comédie, fabulous museums, foodie heaven and divine wine bars…

Paris to Dijon day trip

Last but not least, let’s visit Dijon in Burgundy. If you love cities filled with beautiful, historic buildings. If you love fantastic food and wonderful wines. And if you love museums, galleries, sitting at terraced cafés watching the world go by as you sip a delicious local wine, impossibly fabulous street markets, great wine bars and a vibrant friendly vibe, then add Dijon to your must-see list.

This amazing city has all these things by the bucket load including one of the best markets in France… and more.

At just over an hour and a half from Paris Gare de Lyon, Dijon train station is in the city centre and totally walkable.

And there you have it – a whirlwind tour of fantastic day trips from Paris, all within a couple of hours by train.

Janine Marsh is the author of  several internationally best-selling books about France. Her latest book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life. Find all books on her website janinemarsh.com

Want more France?

Discover more fabulous destinations in France with our free magazine The Good Life France

Love France? Have a listen to our podcast – everything you want to know about France and more!

All rights reserved. This article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten (including translated) or redistributed without written permission.

The post 13 of the best day trips from Paris by train appeared first on The Good Life France.

Have you ever looked at a photo of Paris and wondered why so many of the rooftops look so good despite the age of the buildings? It’s all down to zinc, a humble metal that was chosen as the roof topping of the ‘modern’ buildings of 19^th century Paris. Sue Aran explores the history of the iconic rooftops of Paris …

The zinc rooftops of Paris

Much that we love and hold dear about the City of Light today, we owe to the singular brilliance of Georges Eugène “Baron” Haussmann. In 1853, when he began the renovation of Paris at the command of Emperor Napoleon III, he was unaware of the enormous cultural impact his reconfiguration of the city would have. As a former architect, I find his vision inspiring and extraordinary. Not only was he prescient about humanizing the scale of the city, but he also knew instinctively that in a grand, large-scale design, rhythm and harmony of materials were essential. The beautiful, iconic zinc rooftops of Paris, which practically all Haussmann buildings are covered by — and the workers who create them — were even considered for UNESCO’s list of French Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Paris’s zinc roofs are thanks to the work of cleric Jean-Jacques Dony (1759-1819) of Liège, a part of France at that time, though now it is part of Belgium. Dony was fascinated by chemistry and by his early 20s, he had his own laboratory. He spent 25 years researching the smelting of zinc which is present in the earth, air and water. It is non-toxic, a trace element that is indispensable for all living organisms, a fundamental part of the metabolic processes of plants, animals and humans. In the human body, over 300 enzymes require zinc for proper functioning.

Although zinc compounds had been used for at least 2,500 years in the production of brass, zinc wasn’t recognized as a distinct element until 1668, when a Flemish metallurgist, P. Moras de Respour, pioneered the extraction of metallic zinc from zinc oxide. As far as Europe was concerned however, zinc was discovered by the German chemist Andreas Marggraf in 1746, who was the first to distinguish it as a new metal.

While chemists tried to handle zinc (formerly known as Indian Tin) it was Dony who discovered and patented a procedure for processing and refining sheet zinc, today the fourth most commonly used metal in the world. In 1805, Emperor Napoléon granted him a monopoly for the exploitation of the zinc mines of Moresnet, 50 kilometers east of Liège, on condition that he pay an annual royalty of 40,500 francs (approximately €15,000 today). Dony showed his gratitude to Napoleon by presenting him with a zinc-lined bath. Napoleon was so thrilled by its light weight and utility that he took it on his subsequent campaigns, including his invasion of Russia in 1812. The bath can still be seen at the Maison de la Metallurgie et de l’Industrie in Liège.

But by 1813, Dony found himself unable to pay the annual royalty and was forced to sell his patent and mining rights. He died in poverty in 1819. However, the company he founded grew and prospered to become the largest zinc-producing company in the world. In 1837, the Société des Mines et Fonderies de Zinc de la Vieille Montagne was created. The new industrial uses of zinc with its undeniable properties of flexibility, durability and resistance to corrosion, arrived just when Haussmann began transforming the city.

At that time, most Parisian roofs were made of either wood, tile, or slate. New construction on such a massive scale called for a faster and more economical roofing material. Zinc sheets were substantially lighter and easier to install, and they protected buildings from water damage. Zinc roofing could be used to create curved shapes or sharply angled roofs, allowing for more elaborate designs to suit the aesthetics of the 19th century Belle Epoque, including the creation of attic rooms, which are highly sought-after living spaces today.

The exposed zinc rooftops, which still cover 85 percent of the iconic Parisian skyline owe their beautiful patina to a natural process of weathering, the softening of the colour belies its durability and strength. The specialist knowledge of around 500 Parisian couvreurs-zingueurs, zinc roofers, who work year-round to build, maintain, and repair the zinc-covered roofs of Paris is essential to the continuation of the zinc roofs. You’ll often spot them perched on scaffolding preserving the iconic roofs of Paris.

Le Zinc – a French favourite for bars!

Zinc didn’t just cover rooftops – it also covered bars! From the 1800s, galvanised zinc countertops were a standard feature of French bars and cafés. In fact, they were so popular that the term Le Zinc came into use to describe bistros and cafés. The expression “rendezvous au zinc” meaning let’s meet at the bar is still in use today!

Emile Zola wrote in “The Belly of Paris” published 1873: “In particular was the counter… sumptuous, with its broad expanse of silver polished bright. The covering zinc overhung the red and white marble base with a deep wavy border, thus overlaying it with a silky sheen, a cloth of metal, like a high altar spread with its embroideries.”

During World War II, some of the metal tops were appropriated, nevertheless plenty survived and can still be seen all over France. There’s not much to beat sitting on a stall at local zinc bar with a glass of wine, imagining the people that have been here before you, perhaps with a glass of absinthe, the drink of choice in the late 180os.

Zinc jardinieres, baths, jugs and more

Zinc proved to be such a versatile metal that it was used to make galvanised bathtubs, watering cans, jugs, buckets, decorative window surrounds, Jardinieres, wash tubs, tabletops and buckets galore and they’re commonly found at flea markets all over France.

Sue Aran is a writer, photographer, and tour guide living in the Gers department of southwest France. She is the owner of French Country Adventures, which provides personally-guided, small-group, slow travel tours into Gascony, the Pays Basque, Provence and beyond.

Want more France?

Discover more fabulous destinations in France with our free magazine The Good Life France

All rights reserved. This article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten (including translated) or redistributed without written permission.

The post Iconic rooftops of Paris appeared first on The Good Life France.

Close your eyes and think of Paris: the Tour Eiffel standing tall over the whole city, the exuberant façade of La Samaritaine, the iconic metro entrances with their dark green wrought-iron railings and retro lamps. They all date from the Belle Époque, which literally means the beautiful era, a 40-year period of fizzing excitement and innovation which has marked the city ever since. And if you know where to look, you can still discover the Belle Epoque sites of Paris…

The Belle Époque

When World War One broke out, Parisians knew it was the end of an era. For 40 years, since the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, life had been good. People had crowded into the shops and cafés of the Grands Boulevards created by Haussmann. Advances in technology saw the metro – opened in 1900 – replace horse-drawn carriages. And creativity was everywhere, in the art of Matisse and Toulouse-Lautrec, in the newly opened cinemas and in the city’s cabarets and dance halls. It really was a Belle Époque.

The Eiffel Tower, the tallest structure in the world at the time, was designed to impress with the very latest in engineering. 500 workers assembled 18,000 carefully numbered pieces to create a daring beauty which towered over the city and announced to the world that a new era had arrived. (Eiffel Tower podcast). The Gare d’Orsay, opened in 1900, was the first station in the world built for electric trains, another signal that Paris was in the forefront of progress. Visiting the Musée d’Orsay today, you can still see traces of the building’s heritage, for example in the beautiful Art Nouveau station clock which dominates the restaurant.

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau architecture is found all over Paris today. As new metro stations opened in the early 1900s, many of their entrances were designed in Hector Guimard’s iconic style, with elegant cast-iron railings, sometimes roofed over by decorative iron and glass canopies. Art Nouveau first appeared in about 1890, featuring curved designs, often inspired by nature. You can find it on the façade of La Samaritaine and in Belle Époque era restaurants, and at 29 Avenue Rapp, a stone’s throw from the Eiffel Tower is one of the most impressive art nouveau doors ever created.

A good example is Le Boullion Julien in the Rue du Faubourg St-Denis, a monument historique where a mahogany bar and tables sit under a glass canopied ceiling and huge mirrors line the walls. The decorations include brass fittings, intricate plaster mouldings and designs featuring peacocks, flowers and – on the ceiling! – herons. Many of the Bouillon restaurants which opened in the 19th century to offer quality food at affordable prices, can still be visited today, a chance to go back in time and enjoy impeccable waiter service in art nouveau surroundings.

The city’s grandest Belle Époque restaurant is Le Train Bleu at the Gare de Lyon, which opened in 1901 as a station buffet. Its extravagant décor, designed to attract well-to-do customers wanting to dine before travelling south for the summer, was art nouveau taken to the very dizziest of heights. The golden ceiling is punctuated by chandeliers, the walls are covered in paintings. The tables are impeccably laid with the crispest of white tablecloths, the heaviest of proper cutlery and the shiniest of glasses. The very finest brasserie cuisine is served and if you find the prices a little higher than elsewhere, remind yourself that you are in a restaurant where Brigitte Bardot and Jean Cocteau chose to treat themselves.

If you want to wander an area of Paris and find the Belle Époque today, then here are three ideas.

A Belle Époque Grand Vista

Stroll across the Alexandre III bridge, from the left bank towards the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais. The bridge was built in 1900, its single elegant arch a technical triumph and its elaborate decorations fully Belle Époque in their exuberance: pairs of stately street-lamps line it, the decorations include dozens of carvings and gold-plated statues. And the vista is Belle Époque too, for it was built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900 to lead visitors across the Seine to two new exhibition halls which would showcase the latest in art and design, namely the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais.

The Grand Palais was another feat of engineering. The vast, elegant domed roof is supported by an iron and steel frame which looks light and airy, but in fact contains more metal than the Eiffel Tower! Normally used for large scale exhibitions, it is currently closed for renovation and not due to reopen until 2024. But the Petit Palais, which houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts, is open as usual and entry to the permanent exhibition is free, meaning it’s easy to have a look around the beautiful interior with its spiral staircases and curved iron railings, stained glass windows and ceiling murals. Its café, where a columned patio curves around a little garden, is always worth a visit.

Shopping à la Belle Époque

Wander the area around the Opéra. The Opéra Garnier itself, opened in 1875, harks back to the grandeur of the 2nd Empire, but the ‘Grands Boulevards’ with their exclusive cafes and shops were very much at the centre of Belle Époque excitement. It was here, in Boulevard des Capucines in 1895, that the public first paid to see the films of the Lumière Brothers – the beginnings of cinema in Paris – and grand new department stores were springing up, two of which you can still visit today.

At Printemps in Boulevard Haussmann, you can catch a little of the atmosphere by eating under a huge and beautiful stained-glass canopy at the 6th floor restaurant, the Bleue Coupole. The interior of the Galéries Lafayette, which originally opened in 1895, is very Belle Époque, especially the glorious central dome, visible from every floor, an exquisite 1000 square metres of art nouveau stained- glass. On the 2nd floor, there is a walkway out into the central space underneath the dome, so you can admire it. And – better still! – there’s a café with a ‘Vue sur Coupole’, perched on the side of the shop where you can enjoy classy little sandwiches and cakes while taking it all in. This chance for ‘un snacking raffiné, (a refined snack) is so popular, that you are asked to stay no longer than an hour!

Don’t forget Montmartre

The entrance to the Abbesses metro station is one of the city’s best kept examples of art nouveau. Its spectacular glazed canopy and elegant dark green wrought-iron railings sing Belle Époque, as do the surrounding old-fashioned street-lamps. Montmartre was very lively then too, a place where artists and musicians gathered in the cafes and revellers flocked to dance halls and cabarets like Le Chat Noir, the Moulin Rouge and the Follies Bergères.

Across the road from the station is one of the city’s few art nouveau churches, St Jean de Montmartre. It too was built at the turn of the century, using the newest techniques. Abbot Sobaux wanted his church to suit the new, industrial era, so he approved its structure of reinforced concrete with a red brick façade, meaning locals refer to it affectionately as Notre Dame des Briques. Inside, the décor is very art nouveau: patterned brick, relieved by ceramics in bronze, blue and gold.

The Musée de Montmarte covers a wide span of the area’s history, and you can learn lots about the Belle Époque there. There are early photographs of the Moulin Rouge and its well-known dancers, including La Goulue. There’s a whole collection of period posters for venues like Le Chat Noir, by Toulouse-Lautrec and others, and a section on the new – for the time! –shadow puppet shows, produced, for example in 1896 at the Boîte à Musique on the Boulevard de Clichy.

Any of these strolls will take you back to the Belle Époque, as indeed will just keeping your eyes open as you wander the streets of Paris.

Marian Jones is a former teacher of French now travel writer with a podcast – City Breaks, bringing listeners and readers the background history and culture which will inform their travels in l’Hexagone. citybreakspodcast.co.uk

Want more France?

Discover more fabulous destinations in France with our free magazine The Good Life France

Love France? Have a listen to our podcast – everything you want to know about France and more!

All rights reserved. This article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten (including translated) or redistributed without written permission.

The post Discover the Belle Époque sites of Paris appeared first on The Good Life France.

Few people walking on the square in front of Notre Dame in Paris are aware that right beneath their feet lie the ancient remains of the city – in Europe’s biggest archaeological crypt. Discover the Roman remains beneath the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

From Lutetia to Paris

The entrance is down a discreet staircase in the northwest corner of the square. You might think it leads to the car park! Look for a pillar with “Crypte du Parvis” engraved on it. The cool air, dim light and quiet ambiance are a strong contrast to the generally busy square that lures tourists to witness one of the most beautiful churches ever built.

But in this museum, you’re unlikely to have to jostle. There were just 125,000 visitors in 2022, an average of around 400 a day, possibly because it’s confusingly called the “Crypte”, which one generally associates with a stone chamber under a church which contains religious relics. The museum’s official name is the Crypte archéologique de l’île de la Cité… perhaps it would draw more visitors if it were just simply called the “Musée archéologique de Paris”!

The Roman remains beneath the Cathedral of Notre Dame

The ancient vestiges, hidden for centuries under the square, were discovered by accident in 1964 during excavations during works to build an underground carpark. When it became clear that these archaeological remains from the Romans to the 19^th century provided a unique timeline to understanding the city’s urban and archaeological development, plans for the carpark were modified and archaeological excavation continued for a further eight years.

Once you’ve paid your entrance fee and your eyes have adjusted to the quiet light, you’ll walk along raised pathways, looking down on 2,000 years of history. Tactile, animated displays, in French and English, help visitors understand what it is they’re looking at.

Right in the centre are the remains of the bath house where inhabitants of the Gallo-Roman town of Lutetia, as Paris was known then (meaning ‘place near a swamp’), could come and relax, catch up on the latest news and exchange gossip.

Today’s visitors can follow the same path the bathers would have taken. You can see the remains of the changing room with its bench still intact. Somebody lost some of their coins in this changing room. As coins were only used for about 20 years, archaeologists assume that this money, found between two paving stones in 2012, gives an accurate indication of when these baths were last used: at the end of 4AD or in early 5AD.

The baths had underfloor heating (who thought this was a modern invention?) and you can see the small columns of stones that held the floor up so the heat could spread underneath. You go through the cold room, the hot room, the sauna, then back through the cold room.

The oldest vestiges visible are those of the city’s very first port, built at the beginning of 1AD just after the Romans colonised the Gaullish settlement. Obviously the Romans wanted to be able to trade from here with the rest of their empire so the first thing to do was to build a port. As is very well explained, the Seine river was untamed back then, so it was spread much wider than today.

Medieval Remains in Paris

Right above the remains of the quay are those of the rampart built along the same axis three centuries later between 308 and 360 AD. The rampart went around the Île de la Cité with a main road that ran north-south. The rampart was built using large stones that have segments of inscriptions on them, so it’s believed that they were taken from official monuments of Lutetia or from seating in the theatre where important families had permanently reserved seats with their names on. You can see remains of the theatre, the Arènes de Lutèce, which had a seating capacity of 15,944, and is the only other Roman vestige visible in Paris, on the rue Monge in the 5^th arrondissement.

From the Medieval period there are the walls of 14^th and 15^th century cellars of the homes built along the rue Neuve Notre Dame, and the basement of the former chapel of the Hôtel-Dieu hospital. Don’t look for this 76m long street. It disappeared in 1874 but when you emerge from this museum, have a look at the markings on the square. They will show you where this street used to be.

The 18^th century is represented by the foundations of the Foundling Hospital, the Hospice des Enfants-Trouvés, built in 1746 on the rue Neuve Notre Dame and demolished in 1874 to widen the square in front of the cathedral. The 19^th century is represented, rather unglamorously, by traces of sewers.

The museum is open Tuesdays-Sundays, as well as some major public holidays. For more details check out the website: crypte.paris.fr

Christina McKenzie is a Franco-British journalist who writes in both English and French. Her stories have been published in anglophone and francophone media. Married to a Frenchman and mother of four, she settled 30 years ago near Fontainebleau.

Want more France?

Discover more fabulous destinations in France with our free magazine The Good Life France

Love France? Have a listen to our podcast – everything you want to know about France and more!

All rights reserved. This article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten (including translated) or redistributed without written permission.

The post The Roman remains beneath the Cathedral of Notre Dame appeared first on The Good Life France.

Paris. The City of Light. The City of Love. City of chocolate shops. The world’s most visited city. Here you’ll find some of the world’s most visited attractions. But there is a secret Paris that’s filled with hidden gems, fascinating and historic places where the past lingers in the present, places you might miss if you don’t know they are there…

Paris is the most visited city in the world!

In 2022, there were 44 million visitors to Paris. The Louvre Museum and the Eiffel Tower were the two most visited Parisian attractions, and the Versailles palace was the most visited destination in the region. But let’s dive into the heart of Paris, beyond the guidebooks, postcards and the clichés. Explore the hidden gems of Paris – those little nooks and crannies that make us fall in love with this city over and over again. So, grab a croissant, settle in, and let’s take a whimsical stroll through the streets of Paris!

Some say that Paris is a cliche, but like all great cliches, it lives up to the hype. The city is brimming with historic monuments whose tales fill us with wonder even after centuries. The ancient Louvre once a royal palace, now the world’s most popular museum, the glittering Opera Garnier, like a miniature Palace of Versailles with gilded corridors and a magnificent staircase, plus a hidden pool where the Phantom of the Opera is said to live. The Arc de Triomphe, the great Gothic Cathedral of Notre Dame and of course the Eiffel Tower. There’s just so much to love.

The Marais district

The historic Marais district was in fact marshland until the 12th century (marais is a French word meaning marsh) when the Knights Templar, who had run out of Crusades to fight, cleared the land. Four hundred years on, the aristocracy began building their mansions here to be close to the Louvre, the preferred palace of royalty. This area is famous for its stunning architecture, but most people miss the Marché des Enfants Rouges, a covered market dating back to 1615. It’s the oldest food market in Paris.

The name ‘Enfants Rouges’ refers to the children who wore red clothes at the orphanage next to the market hundreds of years ago. Now it’s a bustling, vibrant place to go shopping, enjoy street food, or put together a picnic to eat in the Place des Vosges, a lovely square at the heart of the Marais.

It’s very close to the Pompidou centre, and if your like markets and fabulous food, you’ll love the Marché des Enfants Rouges.

Pere Lachaise Cemetery

A cemetery may not sound like the most fun way to spend a few hours getting to know Paris – but I highly recommend the Père Lachaise Cemetery. It’s fascinating, and gives an insight to the city and its past residents. It’s in the east of Paris and it’s the last resting place of more than a million people. A visit here makes for a very interesting cultural and heritage experience, there are even guided tours available.

You’ll find some seriously famous people buried here – Maria Callas, Sarah Bernhardt, Edith Piaf, Frederic Chopin and Jim Morrison, whose tomb is one of the most visited. Marcel Proust lies here – and people leave little madeleine cakes by his grave, they were his favourite. Oscar Wilde’s tomb now has a clear plastic cover on because so many visitors kissed the stone, that it started to disintegrate.

Parisians often go here for a Sunday stroll with the family. It feels like a park, in fact there are more than 5000 trees here; it’s a labyrinth of tree-lined alleys, full of beautiful sculptures. If you want to go there, the nearest metro is Gambetta.

By the way, here’s a fun fact about Paris transport. You have the metro which is generally underground, and you have the RER which is underground but mostly overground. RER stands for Reseau Express Regional – Regional Express network and it runs in Paris and to the suburbs. But when the idea for the RER first came up it was going to be called Metro Express Régional Défense-Etoile which would have been shortened to merde (which I am sure you all know what that means, polite word is poo if you don’t). But it was changed at the very last moment!

The statue of Liberty in Paris

If you head to the Eiffel Tower and cross to the little Île aux Cygnes, which means the island of the swans, which was artificially created in the middle of the river Seine in 1827, you may think that you have been magically teleported to New York because here in Paris you will come face to face with the Statue of Liberty! But non, it’s because Paris has its own, slightly more petite, Lady Liberty – it’s like finding a little piece of America, but with more baguettes and less baseball.

The statue of liberty was a gift from France to America in 1886. Its interior was designed by Gustave Eiffel, and it was created by sculptor Bartholdi from Colmar, Alsace.

The statue of Liberty’s face is said to be based on Bartholdi’s mothers face. There are in fact hundreds of replicas of the Statue of Liberty all around the world, but none are as big as the New York Liberty. The statue on the Paris island faces west towards her sister in New York.

Brilliant book nooks

For our next Paris uncovered gem – how about a quirky bookstore. A stone’s thrown from The great Gothic cathedral of Notre Dame is Shakespeare and Company. It’s like Narnia for book lovers. You might go in for a quick browse and come out hours later, wondering what year it is. One of my proudest moments was seeing my books on the shelves in this lovely book shop. And If you’re a book shop fan, maybe head to Belle Hortense – it has pretty much only French books, but it’s the only book shop in Paris, maybe in all of France, that opens until 2 in the morning and has a wine cellar. It’s near the Hotel de Ville – the city’s town hall.

An aerial park in the heart of the city

La Promenade Plantée also called the Coulée verte René-Dumont, is an elevated park built on an old railway line. You can walk along it and get a really unique perspective of the city. The railway line was built in the mid 1800s and ran above the streets of Paris. It was abandoned in 1969 as bigger trains were introduced and someone had the genius idea to turn these aerial tracks into a park – in fact the Highline Park in Manhattan New York was inspired by the Paris project! The aerial walkways are quite wide, filled with trees and plants, ponds and benches and outdoor gyms. The track winds for 4.5km from Opera Bastille to Bois de Vincennes.

A romantic hidden square

Next on my list of favourites is also a green paradise – the Square du Vert-Galant. It’s a charming little park located at the western tip of the Île de la Cité, offering stunning views of the Seine. The square owes its name to King Henri IV born in 1553 and grandfather of Louis XIV. He was nicknamed the ‘Vert-Galant’ because of his numerous – mistresses even as he got older. Apparently, people used to say of him ‘he’s always green despite his “great” age though when he died in 1610, he was only 57 years old – not really a great age, but I suppose for those days it was.

The square is about 8m, (25 feet) below the ground floor of the Pont Neuf nearby – it’s the natural level of the land, so it floods easily. And it’s overlooked by a statue of Henri IV, sitting on a horse. The square is filled with lots of trees and plants and wild birds – ducks and moorhens for instance and Parisians love to come here for a romantic stroll and the fabulous views over the Seine with the Louvre in the background.

The Harry Potter connection – Nicolas Flamel

Have you ever heard of Nicolas Flamel’s house? It slightly more famous now due to Harry Potter because Nicolas Flamel made an appearance in “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” – he made the Philiosopher’s stone, an object capable of turning metal into gold and granting immortality with its Elixir of Life. The house is a restaurant now and even has a ‘Harry Potter menu’. This building, dating back to 1407, at 51 rue de Montmorency, is the oldest stone house in the city.

Nicholas Flamel – the real man lived here. It’s thought he was born in 1330 and he worked as a book seller and it’s believed he was obsessed with an ancient book about alchemy, written in Hebrew. A legend developed that he translated the ancient manuscript and discovered the secret of immortality and the philosopher’s stone! He lived to be 88 years old – pretty old for those days which probably influenced that story. As an additional piece of trivia, a street named for him, rue Nicolas Flamel near the Louvre, intersects with the rue Perenelle, named for his wife, who he married in 1368 – and who is also in the Harry Potter film!

And talking of roads – here’s a fun fact about Paris – there are no traffic stop signs in the city. There used to be a one in the 16th arrondissement, the French word for Paris districts. But it was removed in 2016, making Paris a rare case of a capital city without a single stop sign.

And a bit of trivia – highways leaving Paris are numbered clockwise from 1 to 16 – for example the A1 goes to Lille in the north, the A6 to Lyon in the south, all the way round until you get to the A16 to Calais in a different part of the north!

History on every corner

Paris has such a long rich history and you can find traces of it absolutely everywhere. There are plaques on the wall everywhere you go. For instance there are ‘permiter markers’ from 1726. In an attempt to limit development in the city, King Louis XV established 294 plaques, saying, essentially that ‘Paris Ends Here’. And if you look at the Hôtel de Sens, in the Marais district, actually it’s the oldest mansion in the area and just one of three remaining medieval residences in Paris – is another piece of history.

Hôtel in this instance, doesn’t mean a hotel like you stay in as a guest, it means a residence of importance. And in this case, the Hôtel de Sens was once a palace for the Archbishops of Sens, a town in Burgundy. And in the wall is a reminder of three days of revolution in July 1830, as, when a cannonball lodged in the wall, it was decided to leave it in place, and erect a plaque with the date it struck. It’s so odd in such a picturesque medieval building! But it’s well worth a visit, it has a pretty little garden too which you can access for free.

The “devil doors” of Notre-Dame

Most visitors are intent on entering the cathedral of Notre-Dame, and miss the incredible detailed ironwork on the side doors! There is a legend that when they were created in the 13th century by a locksmith called Biscornet, he was so overwhelmed by the task of designing and making the ornamentation for the doors that he had to sell his soul to the Devil to get help.

Against all the odds, he managed to finish his amazing work in a very short time. The doors were called “The Devil’s doors” and it was said that they were impossible to repair. In the 19th century, they did in fact need to be repaired and a very famous master blacksmith called Pierre Boulanger was chosen to do the work. It took him considerably longer – 12 years to repair and reproduce the work of Biscornet. Once his work was done Boulanger signed his name on some of the panels on the back of the door to prove that the masterpiece was made by a human and not the Devil!

An underground world dating to the Romans

And another Notre-Dame secret – did you know that you can go underneath the Cathedral and there, in Europe’s biggest archaeological crypt, you will discover the old Roman city of Lutetia as Paris was then called – it means “near a swamp”. Hardly anyone ever goes there, but in the corner of the square of Notre Dame there is a staircase that looks like it leads to a car park with a pillar which is engraved with the word “Crypte du Parvis.” Head down those stairs and be prepared to be amazed. Discovered in 1964 when someone decided it was a good idea to build a car park under the cathedral… hmmm… there are whole roads of ancient Paris, a unique timeline of the city from remains of the city’s very first port to Roman baths to 19th century streets!

And talking of streets – how about the shortest road in Paris? Rue Degrés (2nd arrondissement): 5.75 m, not much to see, but how quaint is that?!

The oldest public clock in France

And the The oldest clock in Paris is on the corner of the Boulevard du Palais, Quai de l’Horloge near the Conciergerie building. The clock was commissioned by Charles V in 1370 and installed in 1371. And it still works! It was the first public clock in France. It’s set in a tower that was once a watchtower and part of a royal palace.

Secret Paris, hidden gems, timeless, authentic and historic

Paris is visually rich but it’s also full or amazing sounds. Head to a café,  and just soak up the experience – people laughing, conversation, servers calling out –’une café allongee’, and depending where you are, the sounds of the locality, the bells of Notre Dame or another church, the hum of traffic and tour buses, the noise of a market or the metro passing beneath your feet, cars driving on cobbles…

Paris is also about the little moments: finding a jazz band playing in a cosy café or in a cobblestone alley, the smell of fresh pastries from a boulangerie – there are more than 1700 in Paris, so you’ve got a lot of choice – or a sunset view from the bridges over the Seine. Paris really is a city where every street corner has a story.

Janine Marsh is the author of  several internationally best-selling books about France. Her latest book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life. Find all books on her website janinemarsh.com

Join The Perfect Paris Tour with Janine Marsh – a week long adventure in the heart of Paris as you discover historic, cultural, gastronomic and dazzling Paris on this very special week-long, small group tour: tourwithabsolutely.com

Want more France?

Discover more fabulous destinations in France with our free magazine The Good Life France

All rights reserved. This article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten (including translated) or redistributed without written permission.

The post Secret Paris and hidden gems appeared first on The Good Life France.

There is so much to see and do in Paris it’s hard to know where to start but for me the area of Montmartre is a must – especially the part that’s perched on a hill, the Butte de Montmartre, at the highest spot in Paris with outstanding views over the city, arty – Renoir lived here as did many other artists. There is spectacular architecture including the Basilica of Sacré-Coeur, and plenty of great bars and restaurants. And – you can reach this perched spot by taking the Montmartre funicular.

It’s one of the most unusual ways to travel in the city.

The Montmartre Funicular

The building of it was commissioned in 1891 to aid attendees heading to Sacre Coeur. And it was put into service on 13 July, 1900. It worked by using an incredible water counterweight system with a tank of water placed in each cabin. They were filled or emptied depending on the passenger load and gravity allowed them to descend when full, ascend when empty.

Now the funicular runs by electricity. Where the water tanks used to be is an electronic scale which calculates the weight of passengers and sets the speed of travel. The average is 3.5 metres per second but when the carriage is full in peak season, the speed is slower!

It’s estimated around 2 million passengers travel on the funicular each year. You can use your metro ticket or pass since this is included as part of Metro line 2, even though it’s not directly connected. The Montmartre funicular is open 7 days a week, from 6 am until 12:45 am.

You can also reach the top of Montmartre via Rue Foyatier, one of the most unusual streets in Paris, opened in 1867. At 100 metres long and 12 metres wide, rue Foyatier is named after Parisian sculptor Denis Foyatier (1793-1863). It begins at the foot of the butte Montmartre at rue André Barsacq and ends at the top of the hill at rue Saint-Éluthère and includes 222 steps. The staircase runs alongside the funicular.

The Montmartre funicular may not be fast or exciting, but it is so Paris, it’s a must!

What to see and do in Montmartre

Janine Marsh is the author of  several internationally best-selling books about France. Her latest book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life.

Want more France?

Discover more fabulous destinations in France with our free magazine The Good Life France

Love France? Have a listen to our podcast – everything you want to know about France and more!

All rights reserved. This article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten (including translated) or redistributed without written permission.

The post The Montmartre Funicular – Paris’s unusual railway! appeared first on The Good Life France.

In 18^th century Paris one of the problems faced by the authorities was where to put the bodies of those who’s time on earth was done. It was grim. There were tales of cemeteries so full that the graves burst open, and bodies fell into the basements of those unlucky enough to live close by. Some claimed the bacteria from cemeteries was so strong in the air it could spoil milk and wine in the kitchens of those living in the streets around.

Cremation wasn’t a thing in Paris, the crypts were full. It was a public health nightmare, and burials within the city limits were banned in 1780. No more room. Five years later a programme began to move human remains from the overfilled graveyards and transfer them to underground tunnels of an old limestone mine which at that time was outside the city limits, the former Tombe-Issoire quarries under the plain of Montrouge. The last bones were placed here in 1860.

The catacombs of Paris

The site was consecrated as the “Paris Municipal Ossuary” on April 7, 1786. It became known as the “catacombs”, in reference to the Roman underground burial chambers called catacombs.

In 1809, the catacombs were opened to the public by appointment.

Under the management of one Inspector Héricart de Thury, the bones were ghoulishly arranged in a creative way between 1810 and 1814. Instead of loosely piling the bones up, they were stacked neatly in winding rows – tibiae alternating with skulls, and the remaining bones piled behind creating long winding walls of bones and bits. Certain areas were named after religious, Romantic or Antique sources, such as the Lacrymatory Sarcophagus, the Samaritan Fountain or the Sepulchral Lamp.

De Thury had two cabinets built in the style of traditional cabinets of curiosities; one was dedicated to mineralogy, the other to pathology. The pathology cabinet showed specimens that referred to bone illnesses and deformations. Throughout the galleries he placed religious and poetic texts.

No one knows for sure exactly how many skeletons were placed in the catacombs – but it’s thought to be more than six million.

The catacombs have been popular ever since, a macabre monument for sure but fascinating. Leaving the normal world of Paris behind you, a stone’s throw from the cemetery of Montparnasse and an area of busy traffic, bustling shops, bars and restaurants, you reach these grizzly bone galleries by descending the 131 steps down into the bowels of the earth, 20 metres below the surface, the height of a 5-storey building. The management do not recommend visits by ‘sensitive individuals’, pregnant women or those with cardiac or respiratory issues.

‘Arrête! C’est ici l’empire de la mort’ is the forbidding sign as you enter, meaning ‘Stop, here is the empire of death’. A sobering thought, but push on if you’re fascinated by the weird, the macabre and the downright morbid.

The air is cool year-round, slightly chilly even, and humid. The area of the catacombs is immense, around 11,000 sq metres, and the galleries run for hundreds of miles under Paris, most of it restricted and some of it is still unmapped.

You have to follow the route that’s allowed – you wouldn’t want to get lost down here like hospital porter Philibert Aspairt who wasn’t found for 11 years after losing his way in 1793, his body accidentally entombed along with six million others. And there it remains with an inscription telling his story.

It’s a surprisingly popular experience but only 200 people can go in each hour, so book tickets in advance or be prepared to queue to enjoy what has to be one of Paris’ most odd tourist venues.

www.catacombes.paris.fr

And if this floats your boat, you may also enjoy visiting Père Lachaise cemetery and Montmartre cemetery.

Janine Marsh is the author of  several internationally best-selling books about France. Her latest book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life.

Want more France?

Discover more fabulous destinations in France with our free magazine The Good Life France

Love France? Have a listen to our podcast – everything you want to know about France and more!

All rights reserved. This article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten (including translated) or redistributed without written permission.

The post The Catacombs of Paris appeared first on The Good Life France.

As a teenager, Napoleon was sent to Paris to train at the École Militaire, which still stands at the opposite end of the Champs de Mars from the Eiffel Tower. He left hurriedly just a year later, having graduated 48th in a class of 56 and returned to Corsica to help his family in the aftermath of his father’s death. At that point no-one – not even he, though he had a high opinion of himself – had any idea of the enormous influence he would go on to have on the city of Paris. Today there are many places you can visit to piece his story together says Marion Jones…

Notre Dame Cathedral

Following his military successes in the 1790s, Napoleon was voted Consul for Life in 1802, and his self-belief reached epic proportions. His coronation as emperor in December 1804 in Notre Dame Cathedral can be seen in a painting by Jacques-Louis David, commissioned by the emperor himself, in the Louvre. Napoleon invited the pope to crown him but decided to show his superior authority by turning his back on the pontiff and placing the crown on his own head and then placing a crown on the head of his kneeling wife, his beloved Josephine.

Place Vendome

The enormous statue of Napoleon in the middle of Place Vendôme, near the Ritz Hotel was erected at Napoleon’s behest to celebrate his 1805 victory at the Battle of Austerlitz (top photo). There is nothing remotely modest about it. Napoleon stands dressed as a Roman Emperor atop a 40m high column. It is decorated with bronze reliefs portraying scenes from the battle, made from hundreds of canons captured from the defeated Russian and Austrian armies. Quite a message. The whole thing was briefly torn down in the 1870s, criticised during the Paris Commune as a ‘symbol of despotism’, but re-instated just a few years later.

Arcs de Triomphe

Two more monuments Napoleon commissioned in his own honour are the Arcs de Triomphe. The smaller Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, built in pink marble in 1806 stands at the Louvre end of the Jardin des Tuileries. The much larger and better-known Arc de Triomphe, stands at the end of the Champs-Élysées. Napoleon promised his troops at Austerlitz that they would have the honour of ‘going home beneath triumphal arches’ and building began when the first stone was laid on his birthday, August 15th, 1806. But it took decades to be completed and was only finally inaugurated in 1840 when Napoleon’s coffin was carried beneath it to reach his final resting place at Les Invalides.

Chateau de Malmaison

A visit to the Château de Malmaison, the country retreat Napoleon bought because Josephine fell in love with it, gives an insight into a more personal side of his story. Some of its rooms are very Napoleonic in style. The Salle de Conseil (meeting room) is decorated to resemble a military tent and the large library houses his desk and some 500 books, which are leather-bound and bear his monogram, B-P for Bonaparte. Upstairs is the Arms Room where you can see another Jacques-Louis David painting, ‘Napoleon crossing the Alps’, and the Austerlitz table, commissioned by Napoleon, on which a large central portrait of him is surrounded by smaller pictures of the generals who helped him win the battle.

On the ground floor are the dining room, where they hosted candlelight dinners for important visitors from Paris, music room and billiards room. Upstairs are sumptuously decorated bedchambers, extensive wardrobes and dressing rooms – important to Josephine who once bought 520 pairs of shoes in a single year.

Chateau of Fontainbleau

The Château of Fontainbleau , previously a royal palace attracted Napoleon as soon as he became emperor and he had the French Revolution-damaged castle repaired and refurbished.

There are mementoes ranging from paintings to pieces of his furniture and his coronation sword. It was here that Napoleon signed his abdication in 1814 and made a moving farewell speech to his Old Guard before leaving France for exile on the Island of Elba.

Les Invalides

It is fitting to end a tour of Napoleon’s Paris at Les Invalides, home to the Musée de l’Armée. There are displays of some of his field equipment, medals, clothes, and one of his famous bicorn hats. More widely, there are displays of the weapons and uniforms of his day. And, connected to the Invalides is the magnificent Église du Dôme where his tomb is on display in the middle of a vast circular domed hall. By the time his body was returned from exile 19 years after his death, the Bourbon royal family was back on the throne, but half a million people still turned out to line the streets to honour this former Emperor of France.

In the space beneath his tomb the wall is decorated with some of his words, expressing what he saw as his legacy. His Code Napoleon, which revolutionised the laws of France did, he said, more good for France than all the laws which preceded it. His reign, in his own words, had ‘left well-being everywhere’. Immodest, yes, but there is no doubting Napoleon’s lasting legacy to France and to Paris, where his presence can be seen if you know where to look…

Marian Jones is a former teacher of French now travel writer with a podcast – City Breaks, bringing listeners and readers the background history and culture which will inform their travels in l’Hexagone. citybreakspodcast.co.uk

Following in Marie Antoinette’s footsteps in Paris 

Trace the footsteps of F Scott Fitzgerald in France 

In the footsteps of the Impressionists on the Alabaster Coast, Normandy

The post Walking in Napoleon’s footsteps in Paris appeared first on The Good Life France.

500 years ago, King Francis 1 of France said “Paris is not a city, it’s a world…”

That still holds true today, and in each season a different side to the world of Paris is revealed – especially when winter comes, bringing a sharp edge to the air, decorating the streets and buildings with a sparkling frost and sometimes draping the city in a blanket of snow.

We asked one of our favourite photographers, Wazim Tagaully, to share some of his favourite winter wonderland photos of Paris…

Montmartre

Frosty cobbled streets, charming bistros and picturesque squares lined with ancient buildings on top of a hill – Montmartre’s chilly charms are irresistible (top photo).

Sacre Coeur

The white stone Basilica of Sacré-Coeur shimmers in the snow.

Canal St-Martin

The Canal St-Martin, commissioned by Napoleon in 1802, criss-crossed by iron footbridges glistens with glacial beauty.

Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower appears to pop its head above the clouds on cold nights.

Le Consulat

Sip seasonal mulled wine in Le Consulat café in Montmartre, the favourite of many artists, including Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso and Toulouse-Lautrec

Seine

In winter when it snows, Paris turns a whiter shade of pale.

Galerie Vivienne

Sparkling Galerie Vivienne, a shopping mall built in the 1820s, is a listed historic monument.

Wazim Tagaully’s photos can be purchased at wazim-photos.com and you can follow him on Instagram @wazou_75 

The post Winter in Paris photos – a feast for the senses appeared first on The Good Life France.