The Champs Elysees is claimed by Parisians to be the most beautiful Avenue in the world. Very crowded at all times, it is more spectacular at night, when floodlighting picks out of the Arc de Triomphe and Place de la Concorde at either end and the crowds queuing for the numerous cinemas, late night brasseries (have a look at the very expensive Fouquet's , mostly frequented by VIPs), Lido cabaretor trying to get past the bouncers at Queen, invest it with a certain glitzy charm. For a glimpse of a more elegant world, take a look at the mansions at the Rond-Point and wander down Avenue Montaigne with its Haute Couture houses including Chanel (# 42), Christian Dior (#30), Guy Laroche (# 29), Thierry Mugler (#49), Hotel Monceau Etoile and Ungaro (#2).
The lower half of the avenue toward the place de la Concorde has a different character, with gardens and smart restaurants running off either side. Between the Champs Elysees and elegant rue du Faubourg Saint Honore lie the vast gardens of the Elysees Palace , home to the French President. On the other side of the Avenue are the Petit Palais and glass-domed Grand Palais , used for major art exhibitions., and the adjoining science museum the Palais de la Decouverte .
Around Trocadero the museums of the Palais de Chaillot, Hotel Monceau Etoile and the excellent collections of the Musee d'Art Moderne (modern art museum) are not well known to tourists and so are rarely crowded.
The rest of the 16th district is often considered rich and bourgeois, but is worth venturing into for specialist museums or for unexpected outbreaks of Art Nouveau and modernist architecture. Much of the 17th district is just as exclusive, peaceful and quiet, and offers the sight of nannies in actionin the delighful Parc Monceau .
La Madeleine : started in 1764, but not completed until 1842, the church of La Madeleine in neo-Greek temple form is a favourite for showbiz ceremonies. Its pedimented facade is mirrored by that of the Assemblee Nationale (French Parliament) accross the Seine. For many, the chief attractions are the luxury food shops in the surrounding square, including Fauchon at #26, Hediard at #21 and La maison de la Truffe (house of the truffles) at # 19. !
Further north, perched on a hilltop, Montmartre is what we call in France a "petit coin de Province" (a small piece of coutryside), with its winding streets, ivy-clad houses with gardens, and artists' studios remaining just as you imagine they always were. Of course you can walk around the always crowded Sacre Coeur and place du Tertre... But as soon as you get off the main drag, the area is surprisingly villagey, with quiet squares and cafes unlike the rest of Paris. The area is home to designers, musicians, writers, actors... The best way to discover Montmartre is to walk along its tiny and quiet streets... To the north of the Butte Montmartre is the Marche aux Puces Saint Ouen , Paris's largest fleamarket.
the Sacre Coeur close to the Hotel Monceau Etoile :
its building was started as an act of penance after the nation's clubbing by the Prussians in 1870. The lavishly adorned church, the crypt and the gallery in the dome are all open to visitors. Take a walk (or ride the funicular) up the many \steps to the Sacre Coeur for a stunning view.
Head to Boulevard de Clichy and Pigalle , and have a little walk along the Rue Lepic famous for its fine food shops. Pigalle is especially famous for its peep shows, but is also increasingly the centre for music, lively clubs and quirky late night bars, as more and more of old cabarets reopen to new forms of decadence.
Further East, in the heart of the 19th district, is the Cite des Sciences et de l'industrie de la Villette , an ultra-modern science museum packed with wonders. The permanent Explora show whisks the visitor through 323,000 sq ft of "space, life, matter and communication", with interactive exhibits on sound, light and smell, displays on health, energy and the environment and a new spacesection including scale-model satellites and a chance to experience weightlessness. Outside, the spectacular spherical Geode cinema shows wide angle Omnimax films. Moored beside it is the Argonaute submarine. La grande Halle on the southern edge of the Park, is used for exhibitions and the Villette Jazz festival. The park, dotted with bright red folies which fulfil a variety of functions, from cacaféo first aid post to the hot brass jazz club, also contains theme gardens, the Zenith rock venue and the innovative new Cite de la Musique .
From La Villette, have a pleasant walk along the beautiful Canal Saint Martin with its ecluse Bridges, its bateaux mouche and its lampposts, which will bring you back to the 10th and 11th districts (Republique and Bastille area). It disappears underground beneath Blvd Richard Lenoir to resurface at La Bastille, where it is called the Bassin de l'Arsenal .
The furniture-makers' district since the Middle Ages, the area east of the Marais gets its name from the infamous Bastille prison, which was stormed by revolutionary forces on 14 July 1789, marking the start of the French Revolution. Progressive colonisation by artists, galleries and media trendies and the opening of the Opera Bastille in 1989 have transformed the area from one of craft workshops into one where a young international crowd can simply fall out of one designer bar and into the next dive.
Don't miss the Marche d'Alique (food market) on Place Alique, every Tuesday and Sunday morning.
This is undoubtedly the most touristy and most picturesque part of Paris. Indeed, the 18th arrondissement is best-known for Montmartre, the well-known landmark famous for the artists and intellectuals who met in the steep, cobbled streets of Montmartre between the vines and the Sacré Cœur. The only remains of these roads decorated with lilacs is the Place du Tertre at the top of the hill, where painters still meet and portrait artists display their talents for all to see. Don't be surprised by the somewhat strange automata on the façades of the Sacré Cœur; they too are street artists. But the 18th is not just Montmartre, it is also, at the foot of Montmartre, the every changing Goutte d'Or neighbourhood, a mixture of Asia, Africa and Europe, whose name comes from the wine formerly produced there.
