Hemingway describes Paris as a ‘moveable feast’. This description of Paris couldn’t have been more apt, no other city is so exuberant and vivid and crazily loved as is Paris. Nor does any other provide such a thrilling trip away from mundane reality and sends the visitor on a roller coaster ride through art, literature, history, food and music. From a visit to the opera to a picnic by the Seine, lunch at a chic brasserie to basking in the sun on the Sacre-Couer’s steps, Paris tourist attractions
exude pleasure in plenty.
Sight-seeing: A trip to the soaring Eiffel Tower, majestic Arc de Triomphe from where 12 grand avenues radiate to form a star shaped structure and mammoth cathedral of Notre Dame is one of the first things one shoulf do. Engagement with Art: Even though the whole city brims with art, The Louvre, transformed from a chateau to a museum, overshadows everything else. It plays host to an unrivalled collection of French paintings, sculptures from the Italian Renaissance era, including the most famous Mona Lisa, of course. Other Paris tourist attractions amongst art galleries worth visiting are the Orangerie – displaying Monet’s masterworks and Centre Pompidou, Paris’ cultural hub and a node of the city’s contemporary art collection. Cafe Rendezvous: Part of the baggage that comes with being a Parisian is taking out a few moments of your day and sitting down with an espresso in one of the thousands of bustling cafes in the city. Les Deux Magots and Café de Flore played host to a number of Postwar Left Bank intellectuals, most popular amongst them being Sartre and Beauvoir and many visitors indulging in Paris tourism love to engage in heated existentialist debate in these cafes till date. Walks, Tours and Shopping: These constitute a major portion of Paris tourism, one is to undertake a medieval meandering through the Marais region – which is currently the hub of gay nightlife in Paris but was once the residence of Monks and Knight Templars. This historical area is characterised by golden and cream colored brick buildings. The Marais also doubles as a major shopping with its boutiques and kitschy shops hoarding Paris’ most beautifully done simple things – dresses, fresh-minted stationery, paper mache products. Paris's Montmartre neighborhood with its neon boards, peddlers selling Paris souvenirs and hawkers selling excellent Paris street food also is worth taking a tour. Bookworming through Left Bank: The relationship between literature and Paris’ Left Bank hasn’t been marred by time. A series of bookshops line this side of the Seine, the most famous being The Shakespeare and Company bookstore, bookstands adorn the front of these bookshops while the backside provides a bargain ground for second hand books and is a popular hotspot amongst tourists. Cruising along the Seine: A trip to Paris remains incomplete without a river cruise taking us lazily across Seine to offer the most popular Paris tourist attractions on view. Types of boat tours include a descriptive one focusing on sight-seeing and city history or an epicurean one serving you Parisian gourmet delights along the way with entertainment shows.