Explore Paris - Ten Great Things To Do and See

Montmartre, Picasso Museum,Pantheon,Rodin Museum,Marais District

Jul 5, 2007

Explore diverse areas of Paris for an eclectic mix of places well known and other less trodden - from street markets to a Campari on the elegant Champs Elysees.

Enjoy a bowl of onion soup in the Place du Tertre where artists gather to display their work and entice you to have your portrait sketched. On a sunny day this is a good spot to while away a couple of hours.

Shakespeare & Co is a cosy, somewhat disorganised book shop at No.37 Rue de la Bucherie in the Latin Quartier. It has been the haunt of many famous writers. Most of the books are in English.

A visit to a Salon de Thé is really more for the delicious cakes than the tea. Many have a charming genteel atmosphere. Tables are often just big enough to hold two small teacups and two large pieces of cake.

On show here is what Picasso particularly loved and what he owned until his death in 1973. There are paintings and objects from every period of his life. The collection is housed in a large, very elegant, 17th-century mansion in the Marais district.

An unusual cafe near the street market Marché Aligre. It is a simple bistro come wine cellar there’s a selection of straightforward food; cheese or charcuterie accompanied by delicious bread and pickles, served on wooden platters and very reasonably priced. Oysters are also a favourite here. Place d’Aligre

The crypt holds the remains of Voltair, Zola and Rousseau - and there is an impressive working model of Foucault’s pendulum in the beautiful frescoed nave. In 1851 Foucault came up with the long held belief that the earth turned on its axis and he demonstrated this by suspending a heavy brass ball on a fine wire from the highest point of the dome. It swings slowly back and forth over a dias which represents the earth. It’s a cool pleasant place on a warm day.

One of the oldest in the city and the gastronomic heart of the Latin Quarter. It stretches for about a mile and is lined with bistros and restaurants, many priced to suit the pockets of students from the nearby university. It is also lined with food stalls and is one of the best places in Paris (pricewise and for quality) to stock up on a few goodies to take home.

Relax in the beautiful garden where some of Rodin’s sculptures are displayed, surrounded by hundreds of rose bushes. And the house itself, where Rodin lived and worked, is stunning. Two of his best-known works are in here: the pensive ‘Thinker’, elbow resting on his knee, and the passionate ‘Kiss’.

This is what Paris looked like in the 19th-century. Inhabitants of the old Jewish Quarter is where Jews have lived since the 13th century, mostly centred around the rue des Rosiers, a lively area with cobbled streets lined with kosher delicatessans and Hebrew bookshops as well as lively cafes and art galleries.

This is a bit of an extravagance as anything you buy on the Champs Elysees seems to be more expensive than anywhere else. But sitting on this beautiful boulevard. the city’s most famous street, people-watching, with a Campari and soda at hand is worth an extra Euro or two. Best time is at dusk, perhaps for a pre-dinner drink, when the cosmopolitan pulse of Paris is just awakening. the street lights are brighter and the night is young.

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