Chateaux de Versaille and other Paris, France Things to Do Tips

The Château de Versailles is one of the largest castles in the world .The Chateau de Versailles has ... more than 2,000 windows, 700 rooms, 1250 fireplaces, 67 staircases and more than 1,800 acres of park. The paintings, tapestries , sculptures ,furniture of this fabulous castle , have been executed by the best Italian and French artists of the time .

In 1623, King Louis XIII - father of Louis XIV , the Sun King , built a hunting lodge, a little château. The king liked so much this little castle in the middle of such a good hunting park, that he soon had it enlarged. From 1661 the young King Louis XIV had his architects embellish the early Versailles castle. There was built a second building enveloping the old Versailles castle with new even style stone façades. In 1682, the Château de Versailles became the official residence of the Sun King and his Court , replacing the Louvre and Saint-Germain Castles.When the king moved into the Versailles castle, he insisted that the castle was for the people, and that his home be open to one and all.

Versailles ' fabulous gardens and park are almost as spectacular as the castle. Le Nôtre designed this Versailles garden including fountains, jets, waterfalls, statues, water parterres, formal gardens, Grand Perspective and Grand Canal, to set off the Castle's architecture ...

This place of absolute wealth and luxury is totaly worth visiting. You probably will have to que a long way before you can enter, but your patience will be rewarded. Absolutly fabulous....

The Chateau is open from Tuesday to Sunday.
May-September 9 a.m. - 6.30 p.m.
Ocotber-April 9a.m. - 5.30p.m.
The parc and the gardens open every day except in bad weather from 7 a.m. in summer, 8 a.m. in winter, until sunset (between 5.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. depending on the season)

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Directions: RER ligne C
direction Versailles-rive-gauche-château
Website: www.chateauversailles.fr
Other Contact: service.multimedia@chateauversai

The day it opened, March 13th 1986, was fortuitously marked by the passing of Halley's Comet. About 40 million visitors have gone through its doors since it's opening, while about 3.5 million visit it annually. This number is the highest for any cultural establishment in Paris. Thanks to its geographical location, some of these visitors continue on to other places and museums in the area. In the Parc de la Villette measuring around 35 hectares, it is close to the 6400-seat Zenith concert hall and the Cite de la Musique.

There are so many components in the Cite des Sciences that one is hard pressed to choose a few to describe. Scale Models, industry, medicine, history, photography, sciences and technology are all covered in one museum.

I personally didn't like it verry much but that's probably because I lack intrest in sciece. On the other end my boyfriend loved it. He's more into computer, technology , math and other off that stuff. Either you love it or you hate it. Tough I must say that the modern architecture is quite nice.

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Phone: +33 1 40 05 80 00
Address: Avenue Corentin-Cariou 30, 75019 Paris
Directions: Nearest Metro: Porte de la Villette (line 7)
Website: www.cite-sciences.fr
Other Contact: a.ghaieb@cite-sciences.fr

The Musée Guimet has the richest collection of oriental art in the western world. Established in 1898 by the industrialist Emile Guimet, it became the fold of all oriental art coming to Paris. During the colonies most objects were brought back by French "missions" or military officers, priests passionate about Asia from Alexander the Great’s days to the glorious times of the colonial empire.

In a circular layout the rooms around the entry hall are dedicated to Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia. On the next floor above visit China, Tibet, Nepal, ... Whether it’s a Mahakala, Buddha, Amitabha, Darmapala, Citipati (a vicious devil you rather avoid), Avalokitesvara, Dalai Lama, Boddhisatva, Milarepa, or Heruka, you will find them all.

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Phone: +33 1 56 52 53 00
Address: Place d' Iena 6, 75116 Paris
Directions: Nearest Metro: Iena (line 9), Trocadero (line 6,9),
Boissiere (line 6)
Website: www.museeguimet.fr
Other Contact: auditorium.guimet@wanadoo.fr

Right in front of the Cite des Sciences, La Geode is a large metallic sphere beautifully reflecting the sky and the Cite des Sciences building near-by. It has a diameter of 36m and houses a movie theater with a 1000 m² hemisheric screen.

La Geode is a great experience. It shows movies on nature, space and journeys using the Omnimax technology. This technology conveys a unique feeling of real action in the real world. Great!

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Phone: +33 1 40 05 79 99
Address: Avenue Corentin Cariou 26, 75019 Paris
Directions: Nearest Metro: Porte de la Villette (line 7)
Website: www.lageodde.fr

The collections of this museum focus on the art of living from the Middle Ages to the present day. Some 220 000 pieces - ceramics, glassware, goldsmith work, jewellery, furniture, wallpaper, drawings and toys - are kept in its various departments, housed since 1905 in the Marsan wing of the Palais du Louvre.

The museum is filled with all sorts of items that illustrates the decorative skills from the Middle Ages to the 1990s. The contents ranges from objects of French interiors such as beds, blankets, cupboards, tools, stainglass and lampshades, to furnishings and fittings.

You can also find rather new departments in this museum. One focusses on textille and fashion (Le musee de la Mode et du Textile), the other one is about jewelry (La galerie des bijoux). And the thirth is about advertisement (Le musee de la Publicite).

Be aware that the museum is under renovation now and that only the Middle age-Renaissance section, Le musee de la publicite, Le musee de le mode et textille and La galerie des bijoux are open to the public.
And, don't forget to visit the museum store. The have a broad range off interessting books.

Openingtimes:
Middle Age-Renaissance section only, from tuesday to friday : from 11am to 18pm,
saturday and sunday : from 10am to 18pm.
Closed on monday.

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Phone: +33 1 44 55 57 50
Address: Rue de Rivoli 107, 75001 Paris
Directions: Nearest Metro: Tuileries (line 1), Palais Royal musee du louvre (line 1, 7), Pyramides (line 7, 14).
Other Contact: webmaster@ucad.fr

This is a nice place to just stroll along.Nice quit walk. Something you don't wanna do here is looking for the graves of famous people. Nope. It is almost always a big disappointment. Because their graves ussualy turn out to be quit dull. Jim Morrisons is just a pit of sand, Sarah Bernhardts is stuck away and so dull you walk by several times before you find it, Seurats stands in line with the others,... I learned it the hard way. After a few famous ones I stopped looking for them and just took a walk around and found verry beautiful sculptures of people who I never heard of. And if you visit Pere Lachaise this way it will be less crowded with folks asking where Jim is.

Although you might not looking for famous people you still will need a map, you can easely get lost in this place. A good map of the cemetery is available for a few euros in the newsagent and flower shop on avenue Pere-Lachaise and at outlets near the main entrance on Boulevard de Ménilmontant.

Openingtimes: Daily 8 am -7 pm.
No admission charge.

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Phone: +33 1 55 25 82 10
Address: Boulevard de Menilmontant, Paris
Directions: Nearest Metro: Pere Lachaise (line 2, 3), Phillipe Auguste (line 2), Gambetta (line 3)
Website: www.pere-lachaise.com
Other Contact: www.gargl.net/lachaise/

The Montmartre or North Cemetery, almost as vast and as famous as Père Lachaise, was created in 1798, closed down and then reopened in 1831. Many illustrious personalities such as La goulue, Dahlida, Emille Zola and Degas are buried here.

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Phone: +33 1 43 87 64 24
Address: Avenue Rachel 20, 75018 Paris
Directions: Neaest Metro: Blanche (line2), La Fourche (line13)

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel designed and built the eiffel tower for the Paris World's Fair in 1889.It was a massive wroughton iron construction, made of 6300 metric tons of iron. Four legs of iron cuve upwards until they meet to form a single tower. The tower is 300 meters high. It costed over a million dollars to build. The French government only provided about $300,000 for the project and Eiffel came up with the rest, wich he later got back with admission tickets.

At first the people of paris wanted to dissassemble the tower after the fair because they felt it did not preserve the cities aesthetic value. Then the radio capability of the tower was found and they kept it. The hieght and elegance of this tower makes it stand out in the Paris landscape. Also the interior lighting system makes it look like a big candle at night. This tower is truely a beautiful treasure of France.

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Phone: +33 1 44 11 23 23
Address: trocadero
Directions: METRO : Bir-Hakeim, Trocadýro, Ecole Militaire
Website: www.tour-eiffel.fr

The Gothic loftiness of Notre-Dame dominates the Seine and the Ile-de-la-Cite as well as the history of Paris. On the spot where this majestic cathedral now stands, the Romans had built a temple to Jupiter, which was followed by a Christian basilica and then a Romanesque church .
Notre-Dame has had an eventful history over the centuries. Crusaders prayed here before leaving on their holy wars, Notre-Dame was pillaged during the French revolution, Napol?on crowned himself emperor here, ...

Yet it is the art of Notre-Dame, rather than its history. The three rose windows are masterful, their colors a glory to behold on a sunny day.
For a look at the upper parts of the church, the river, and much of Paris, climb the 387 steps to the top of one of the towers. The south tower holds Notre-Dame's 13-ton bell, which is rung on special occasions.

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Phone: +33 1 42 34 56 10
Address: Ile de la cite, Place du Parvis 6, 75004 Paris
Directions: The nearest Metrostops are cite, St-Michel Not.Dame, Pont Neuf, Chatelet.
Website: www.cathedralDeParis.com
Other Contact: info@cathedraleDeParis.com

Probably the best site for a building in Paris, the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur can be seen from most parts of the city because of its height and gleaming white stonework. The architect Abadie choose to build in a Romano-Byzantine style. Approached up a long flight of steps immortalised in many films, the church has a magnificent view, especially from the top of the cupola. The Basilique du Sacre-Coeur was built as a monument to the glory of France and the Sacred Heart and was funded by sponsorship. The names of the sponsors are carved into the stonework. The two statues flanking the entrance are Joan of Arc and St. Louis.

The interior of the church contains one of the worlds largest mosaics, and depicts Christ with outstretched arms. The nearby bell tower contains the ``Savoyarde''. Cast in Annecy in 1895, it is one of the worlds heaviest at 19 tons.

Opening Times:
The Basilica is open every day from 6am to 11pm
(for visits, the last entries are around 10.15pm)also possible to visit the crypt (same times)

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Phone: +33 1 53 41 89 00
Address: Rue du Chevalier de la barre 35, 75018 Parijs
Directions: Montmartre
Nearest Metro: Anvers (line 2), Chateau Rouge
(line 4)
Website: http://www.sacre-coeur-montmartre.com/
Other Contact: basilique@sacre-coeur-montmartre