Champs-Élysées & Trocadéro
The 16th arrondissement – known as the Chaillot Quarter – was formally the village of Chaillot, which was absorbed into Paris in the 19th century, and architecturally transformed by Haussmann into the grand avenues and opulent mansions it is today. Many are now embassies, but it still remains Paris’ most exclusive residential area.
Directly in front of the Eiffel Tower across the Seine is the Jardin Trocadéro, its fountains beautifully lit at night, where crowds congregate to watch the fireworks, the highlight of the 14 July celebrations. Underneath the Jardin Trocadéro is the recently reopened aquarium alongside ‘CineAqua’, a showcase for animation, and the unique Japanese restaurant Ozu, where you can watch the piscine habitats while eating… raw fish!
The Place du Trocadéro was built for the 1878 Universal Exhibition along with the Palais de Trocadéro. The Palais was demolished to make way for the new Palais de Chaillot, a curved, winged building, built for the World Fair of 1937 – a fusion of neo-classical architecture and Art Deco – which is home to four museums and a theatre.
From here, the avenue President Wilson – which has Paris’ largest concentration of museums – leads you to the funky Palais de Tokyo, which combines contemporary art, ‘fooding’ and shopping in one stripped-down warehouse space. The Galliera opposite is Paris’ fashion museum, housing over 100,000 outfits from the 18th century to the present day… but if you’d rather buy than simply look, then the adjoining arrondissement of the 8th is shopping central (for the posh shops, at least).
Probably the most famous shopping stretch in Paris is the avenue des Les Champs-Élysées. Though heavily commercialized, it is still the chicest ‘high-street’ in the world, with its wide pavements and cafés, chestnut trees and bordered flowerbeds that turn into larger green spaces towards the place de la Concorde. Within the greenery sit the new additions to Paris’ already long list of art galleries, the ‘Grand’ and the ‘Petit’ Palais, both built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900, as was the incredibly ornate rococo Alexandre III bridge, which, with its nymphs and cherubs, is super-kitsch.
Following years of neglect, both the ‘Grand’ and the ‘Petit’ Palais have been renovated over the last decade. The ‘Grand’ holds temporary exhibitions (it’s also where the Germans kept their tanks) and is worth visiting just to see the magnificent glass cupola, ironwork and glass Art Nouveau roof. The Petit now houses the Musée des Beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris, the place to go if you like Ingres, Delacroix and Courbet. Your transition from the 16th to the 8th doesn’t alter the level of swank: you enter the ‘golden triangle’, and you drool at the shop windows of the swish rue Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. Don’t wear anything but haute-designer – it’s important to look the part when stopping off for extortionate cocktails at any of the area’s exclusive hotel bars.
Louvre & Palais Royal
It’s no coincidence that the numbering of the Parisian arrondissements begins here: the Louvre, the Tuileries and Palais Royal form the geographical and royal heart of Paris, while the Seine runs through the city like its life blood. One cannot wander around this area without thinking of France’s past monarchy. Stroll through the formal Tuileries gardens, loved by Monet and Renoir, and picture the Royal Palace, burnt down by Communists in 1871, where Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were kept under house arrest.
Today, a summer pleasure fair and Ferris wheel, offering the most outstanding views of Paris as well as the soaring sense of touching the sky, have replaced the angry mobs of the Revolution. Another sight worth catching on the way to the Louvre is through the Arc du Carrousel, which frames a view of the Concorde obelisk, the Arc de Triomphe and La Défence in almost perfect alignment.
The Louvre began life as a royal palace in the 13th century, and served as a power base right up to the German Occupation, when its rooms were used as offices. It is also a symbol of power: President Mitterand used it as an opportunity to reaffirm his presidential legacy by commissioning I.M. Pei to build the glass pyramid entrance. The Louvre houses the world’s largest art collection, where crowds of culture-vultures, tourists and now Da Vinci coders flock. They take their sight-seeing breaks sitting on the edge of the water features surrounding the pyramid, under the watchful eyes of flâneurs sipping Kir Royals at Le Café Marly on the Cour Napoleon du Louvre.
The Palais Royal opposite is an arcaded retreat, where the area’s past residents, including Colette and Jean Cocteau, Napoleon and Victor Hugo, dined at Le Grand Véfour, one of the oldest restaurants in Paris. Alongside the restaurant you’ll find boutiques offering, among other things, vintage fashion and military medals, as well as parfumeur Serge Lutens’ first shop. Behind the Palais Royal is the wonderfully old- fashioned shopping arcade Galerie Vivienne and the Bibliothèque Nationale Richelieu, where noteworthy contemporary photography exhibitions take place.
Napoleon crops up again, this time in the form of a bronze statue at the centre of the place Vendôme, which is rather apt as this square quietly exudes snobbishness and self-importance. It is home to the Ritz and haute-joaillerie names such as Cartier and Boucheron. Follow on from here down the shop-lined rue de la Paix to see Charles Garnier’s magnificent neo-baroque opera house, perhaps stopping off at the tourist hot-spot Café de la Paix, if you fancy it.
At the other end of avenue de l’Opéra, crossing right through the 1st arrondissement, is rue du Saint-Honoré, a continuation of the luxurious shopping stretch of the rue du Faubourg-St-Honoré in the 8th, and of equal shopping interest. Concept store Colette, at no. 213, is a must for any fashion slave.
Les Halles, the 19th-century food market, was torn down in 1969 to make way for the huge and monstrous shopping complex, Forum des Halles, now terrorized by kids from ‘les banlieues’ who come to roam the teen-spirit shops of the vicinity (the Forum is a major RER-métro station connecting the suburbs to the city). Until mayor Bertrand Delanoë fulfils his promise to regenerate the site, avoid it.
However, rue de Montorgueil is pleasant place for a stroll, and is home to one of Paris’ most exclusive spas (Nuxe, at no. 32). It crosses over rue Etienne Marcel, which, along with parallel rue Tiquetonne, is home to young street wear shops such as Diesel.
Both streets take you to rue Montmartre, which is home, along with its side streets, to many vibrant bars (Somo seems to have past its sell-by date, but Café Noir and Dédé la Frite are always busy). To the west is the Bourse, Paris’ Stock Exchange. Continue northwards and you will hit the Grands Boulevards that line the border to the 9th arrondissement.
Marais, Bastille & Oberkampf
The Colonne de Juillet is a column – upholding the golden, winged figure representing the ‘Spirit of Liberty’ – commemorating the uprising of 1830. It stands on the former site of the Bastille prison, stormed by angry mobs demanding freedom from the feudal state and precipitating the start of the 1789 French Revolution. But the giant, imposing glass building of the Opéra Bastille, which formed part of Mitterrand’s ‘grands travaux’, overshadows it.
This is traditionally the furniture-makers’ district, but these artisans are swiftly disappearing to be replaced by trendy street-wear shops and bars. The streets immediately surrounding the Opéra and column are congested and polluted, and feel like a thoroughfare – not the most salubrious place to be sipping a coffee on the pavement. Better bars and cafés are to be found just behind the Bastille, away from the grime of the traffic. Rue Charenton has the ever-cool restaurant-cum-bar the China Club, and around the corner is the vibrant North African market square of place d’Aligre and its surrounding wine bars. Don’t forget, either, the rue de Charonne where the long-established Pause Café still manages to draw in a cool crowd. Having said that, Bastille has not managed to retain the exclusively cool status it achieved in the 1990s: its hipness, although still present, has been diluted by the presence of more commercial ventures.
Rue Oberkampf, on the other hand, has now attained such heights of popularity that the area it dominates, between boulevard Voltaire and boulevard Ménilmontant and Belleville, is collectively referred to as ‘Oberkampf’. This rise has been attributed to the rediscovery of Café Charbon on rue Oberkampf itself, which first opened at the turn of the century but was revolutionized by a trendy crowd about 15 years ago. A club has now opened next door, and the prevalence of fantastic nightlife has spread to rue Saint-Maur and rue Jean Pierre Timbaud.
The area south of Bastille, towards Gare de Lyon, has been the subject of regeneration projects, such as the Viaduc des Arts belonging to the former Paris-Vincennes railway line along Avenue Daumesnil. The old railway lines above the viaduct have been landscaped into a green park walkway – a ‘planted promenade’. The red-brick arches and space underneath have been scrubbed and cleaned to the point of sterilization, to make room for the row of retail outlets, including antique shops and galleries, which have become rather soulless, overpriced and disappointing. The Bercy Village, known as Cour Saint-Emilion, is a lot better, and although it is reminiscent of a Club Med in terms of its artificiality, it has an excellent wine bar, Chai 33. The new Bibliothèque Nationale opposite, just across the Seine, was commissioned by François Mitterrand to look like four upstanding books and is impressive, especially at night.
Montmartre
Anyone who is familiar with the paintings of the Impressionists will recognize Les Grands Boulevards, which epitomize the urban regeneration of the Second Empire overseen by Haussmann. Dominated by the grands magasins (department stores) at one end, the boulevards continue through to place de la République, another Haussmann creation symbolizing the Republic of 1883, and onto the Bastille, changing names six times. Northwards, into the 9th and 18th arrondissement, is the area known as Montmartre.
The best stretch is the rue des Martyrs. Make sure you sample an award-winning croissant from the Boulangerie Arnaud Delmontel, eat at the coolest hotel in Paris – Hôtel Amour – on rue Navarin, and stroll down the tree-lined avenue Trudaine alongside the boho-chic locals.
Sacré-Coeur stands on top of a hill known as La Butte (the ‘mound’). The closer you get to it, the more the streets seem to be dominated by cheap-looking crêpe stalls and souvenir shops, but the unbearable hordes of tourists are the worst. It was once famous for being a hub of creativity – Van Gogh, Renoir, Picasso and Braque to name but a few had their studios here – but unfortunately the only artistic legacy remaining is the portrait artists who cackle for your custom. It’s best to stay at the bottom of La Butte, around the bohemian area of the place des Abbesses, where you’ll find many quirky shops and designer ateliers. These streets were designed for aimless wandering (and strong calf muscles). Look out for the trendy café Burq on rue Burq, and on the winding rue Lepic you’ll find the Café des Deux Moulins at No. 15 (where the fictional Amélie Poulin of the cult film worked as a waitress), and Chez Camille on rue Ravignan, which is THE cool place to have a drink or coffee.
Pigalle, which is between these two areas, is the notorious red-light district, where tourist dance-halls such as the Moulin Rouge sit next to more gritty brothel bars and X-rated video shops.
It was President Pompidou’s wish to tarmac the Canal Saint-Martin and make way for a motorway, but thank goodness he did not get his way – the city would have forever lost one of its most enchanting areas. Originally created by Napoleon in the early 19th century to give Parisians drinking water, the canal later became an invaluable asset for the rising industries of the later part of the century. Today, the barges are a less frequent sight. The footbridges and cobbled canalside has become a popular picnic spot, and there are many wonderful shabby–chic restaurants and bars waiting to be discovered. The area has been gentrified in recent years – shops such as Agnès b. have sprung up – but many of the original independents still remain, along with one of the city’s best art bookshops, Artazart. Across the canal to the east is Belleville, a more run-down working-class area, caricatured in the Oscar-winning animation. Behind the immense Saint-Louis hospital are bar-filled streets, in particular the dilapidated rue Sainte-Marthe leading to place Saint-Marthe, unparalleled in bohemian atmosphere.
Continue up the canal, past the Rotonde de la Ville to the quais of the Seine and Loire, where you will find the stylish MK2 cinema complex and restaurant. Still further on lies the entertainment and cultural city of Parc de la Villette.
The rather scruffy rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis that cuts right through the 10th arrondissement is home to the Indian community: although Passage Brady is atmospheric, the really authentic and now rather trendy Indian area is further up towards the Gare du Nord. Rue Cail and rue Louis-Blanc leading towards the canal are the places to go for a fantastic curry.
The Left Bank & Latin Quarter
The Left Bank probably sums up our romantic vision of Paris as epitomized by musicals such as Gigi and An American in Paris. Home to the Sorbonne, École des Beaux-Arts and University Paris-Jussieu, and lined with booksellers – including Shakespeare & Co. at 37 rue de la Bûcherie – the area is filled with students populating a vibrant café scene, while the hard-hitting Lefties of the 1968 student riots have gone (it was also popular with Resistance fighters). The nightlife centres on debates over cheeseboards in wine bars, as trendier nightspots have relocated to the old working-class districts of the Rive Droite.
The Left Bank feels touristy, but is also incredibly chic: a range of smart boutiques cater for the grown-up intelligensia, who, having graduated from the Sorbonne, remained in the locale. Those who found work in publishing houses around the cobbled streets of Saint-Andre-des-Arts perpetuate the atmosphere of existentialist enquiry begun by Sartre, de Beauvoir and Camus in Les Deux Magots and Café Flore. Incidentally, Saint-Germain gets its name from Paris’ oldest church.
The skyline of the Left Bank is dominated by the Tour Montparnasse, Europe’s second tallest tower; the Montparnasse area, adopted by George Sand and Chopin in the mid-1800s, was popular in the early 20th century with Trotsky and Lenin, and then the 1920s and 1930s with Picasso, Hemingway, Cocteau and Matisse – all of whom hung out in local bars discussing modern revolutions in politics and art. The fully restored 1880s décor of the wonderful Théâtre Montparnasse is a must: have a drink in the run-down yet atmospheric bar downstairs. If you’re in need of some green space, stroll along the tree-lined boulevard Edgar Quinet nearby, where an art market has established itself. Otherwise the Jardin du Luxembourg offers neat gravelled paths through manicured gardens.
Latin was the language of the scholars of the 13th–century university La Sorbonne – hence the name ‘Quartier Latin’ (Latin Quarter). It is the location of the Panthéon, an impressively large church that now only acts as a monumental crypt, encasing the remains of great French men and one woman, including Voltaire, Zola, Dumas and Marie Curie.
There is a village-like daily market on rue Mouffetard, which leads off the picturesque place de la Contrescarpe; although very pleasant to stroll through by day, the area becomes rather tacky at night, marred by a continuous stretch of tourist-filled restaurants. Worthwhile sites in the Latin Quarter include the Jardin des Plantes, a garden and zoo with a fin-de-siècle natural history museum featuring taxidermy, with 1930s greenhouses attached; the Institut du Monde Arabe, with its noteworthy architecture by Jean Nouvel and its roof-top restaurant; and La Mosquée de Paris, with its atmospheric dining and tea room, as well as a hammam (Turkish steam baths).
The French Parliament, L’Assemblée Nationale, dominates the rather sedate 7th arrondissement. Unless you want to visit the UNESCO headquarters or the prime minister’s official residence, there is no real reason to come here – civil service offices, embassies and ministries, guarded by bored gendarmes, take up long stretches. However, the high-end fashion and design shops near the border of the 6th should not be ignored.
The 7th is only referred to in guide books as Les Invalides, because the great Hôtel des Invalides is its prime tourist destination, along with the Musée d’Orsay, Musée Rodin and Tour Eiffel. Built by Louis XIV as a hospital for his wounded and homeless soldiers, it has a golden-domed church at the back – the Eglise du Dôme – which houses the remains of Napoleon Bonaparte in its crypt. The 18th-century buildings of the École Militaire, along with the Parc du Champs de Mars, stretch down to the Eiffel Tower and come to life with fireworks and crowds on 14 July.
Paris
Ah, Gay Paris, city of lights, city of love. Capital of fashion and food. Its name alone raises the spirits of luminaries from Rimbaud to Robespierre, from Picasso to the Scarlet Pimpernel. We associate it with the technicolour magic of Gigi and macaroons, with a dancing Gene Kelly singing Gershwin tunes, with the risqué can-can dance of the Moulin Rouge, with gastronomic indulgence and sumptuous shops, with champagne cocktails … in short, with hedonism.
But Paris has a much darker side, having witnessed some of the bloodiest episodes of modern history from the Revolution through to the Occupation. It is also a city of contradictions and surprises: Paris is perceived to be small, but is in fact the most densely populated area in the western world outside Manhattan. It is known for being low-rise and yet contains what was the tallest building in the world for the first 30 years of the 20th century.
Paris began as the Roman settlement of Lutetia in around 50ad and by around 500ad had risen to be the capital of the Frankish empire. After a lull in its influence the city again became the capital of France after the Hundred Years War, although the kings of France generally preferred to hold court away from the urban mob, first in the chateaux of the Loire valley and later at the famous Palace of Versailles. And with good reason, as the 14 July 1789 saw the defining moment of the city’s history in the storming of the Bastille and the start of the Revolution.
After the chaos that ensued, the period of terror and the violence and glory of the Napoleonic period, Paris began to take the shape we are familiar with today under the auspices of Emperor Napoleon III and Baron Hausmann. Huge areas of medieval slums were cleared to make way for grand avenues and extravagant neo-classical monuments. If you have not already been to Paris to see them, you will have almost certainly seen them on the canvases of the Impressionists, who encapsulated the spirit of la belle-époque and its wonderfully sexy demi-monde. Even the Nazis succumbed to Paris’ charm. General Choltitz refused Hitler’s order to leave the city in ruins at the end of the Occupation in 1944, preserving it for posterity.
Today, Paris is a diverse and multi-faceted metropolis. It revels in its place as a home to almost every significant artistic and intellectual movement that Europe has seen in modern times. But with such a privileged cultural position come problems of its own and socio-economic inequalities that have brought unrest in its place, from the student demonstrations in the 1960s, to the race-related riots of 2005. However, their unique variant of national pride resists the dilution of culture, so unlike England and America, Paris hasn’t yet been overtaken by global chains.
Paris is the city of the flâneur and its compact size is ideal for roaming. It’s just as important to while away the hours shopping or watching the world go by from a sun-soaked terrace with a café crème or aperitif, as it is to visit the Louvre.
