The Palace and other Paris, France Things to Do Tips

The richness of the palace and the perfection of the gardens became a model for lots of palaces all over Europe. But none beats the original. There’s no chance to see in a glance an entire salon because there will always dozens of persons everywhere you go. It’s impossible to make a picture different from some bodies or heads, at least, with a palace in the background. It’s impossible to analyze most of the details, because everything is so immense, and there are so many people behind you, that you have to rush. But it is a hell of experience. I suggest that you make several visits, each time focusing in a different angle. To start, the building. It's huge marvelous and rich. And with thousand of beautiful details that you are unable to see, unless you repeat, and repeat, and repeat...

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Now, let's concentrate on art. Forget the palace and gardens, and look at the paintings, statues, frescoes and carvings. Where? Everywhere! Each salon or corridor is a tremendously rich gallery of art that could keep you busy for hours. And if, not being a French, you had to study french culture and history, you are going to meet lots of names and faces familiar to your memories

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A world around the Palace, the gardens are a wide collection of fountains and lakes, surrounded by flowers carefully arranged. Being so wide, you may use a small train to follow it, stopping in several of its more distinctive areas. Funny, the way they use irregular measures, to compensate the errors of perspective caused by the size of the longest lake.

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The sights from the Trocadero esplanade are great, especially if you have the luck to get the fountains at work. The power of the great canons is fabulous, and the harmony of the whole makes you forget that, in front of you is... the Eiffel tower. It's the best side to approach the tower, and must be enjoyed without rush. It's also the place where a couple of yong boys decided to follow my camera - no chance, Fernanda noticed and warned me. Be careful!

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Address: Place du Trocadero
Directions: Metro:Trocadero

Travelling with kids, while in Florida I had to go to Disneyworld. But in France, why should I search for American culture (and business)? I preferred Asterix Park. It's the same idea, lots of amusement, and... it's french.

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Directions: 30 Km from Paris by the Highway A1. By RER (metro) Roissy Charles de Gaulle then a shuttle.
Website: http://www.parcasterix.fr/v2/default.asp

Yes, we've been in Eiffel tower, and went up to the top.
It's beautiful and expensive, and, once done it's done.
Yes, we did it one second time, still beautiful as in the first one.
No need to repeat...
We did it a third time.
Now for sure: the fourth was the last one.
I guess: when will it be the fifth?

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Address: Trocadero
Directions: You can't miss it!!!

Les Champs Elisées is a very long avenue, meaning a very long walk. That's why, those two palaces standing between the avenue and the river are a very strong invitation to stop. Considering that they usually have interesting exhibitions, the invitation is reinforced. And looking at the lawn in the shades...

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Address: 3, Avenue du Général-Eisenhower, 75008, Paris

There's a special romanticism in Tertre's nights. Several painters occupy the place, displaying their portfolio, while hundreds of people walk around, comparing and commenting styles, and some of them negotiating a portrait or caricature. And the time passes quickly, comparing faces to the expressions fixed in the papers.

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Address: Near Sacré Coeur

A fabulous sphere is the top attraction of a park that, to be honest, has nothing more very interesting. Gardens, concert hall, music museum may fill your time but the sphere is really the only special thing.

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The first look at this church gives a strange sensation of a pastiche - a copy of a roman temple out of date and context. Well, it is. It looks like roman, without being roman. It has a style uncommon in France in the 18th century, where it was started. It was built for artistic reasons, not exactly religious ones, what explains its odd look. But it got history: the revolution, right after its start, stopped the construction, and hardly discussed its future - a library, a marketplace, even a ballroom, but it was Napoleon who decided, at last, to proceed with its religious vocation, as temple to the glory of the army. After Napoleon's fall, the temple was dedicated to Mary Magdalene. Now it is a trendy beautiful and odd church.
And it reaches perfectly its aesthetic objective.

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Address: Place de la Madeleine and Rue Royale
Directions: Metro #12 stop Madeleine.