paris

"THE chief danger about Paris,” T. S. Eliot wrote to a friend, “is that it is such a strong stimulant.” That wasn’t merely the overcaffeinated ramblings of a Left Bank cafe habitué. Few cities thrill visitors with such a beguiling multiplicity of personalities. There is the devout Paris of Notre Dame’s Gothic solemnity, and the naughty Paris of Pigalle’s red-light bars. Sophisticated Paris radiates from the vaulted galleries of the Louvre and the gilded Opéra Garnier, while bohemian Paris emerges in the art galleries of the Marais and gritty rock ’n’ roll nightclubs. For every Gallic gastronomic temple, there’s an Asian, African or Middle Eastern restaurant brimming with exotic flavors. And for every Jean Paul Gaultier, there’s a fledgling fashion student opening his first boutique. In the words of Henry Miller, another American drawn to Paris’s manifold pleasures, lofty and low: “To know Paris is to know a great deal.”
With some 10 miles of galleries housing a collection that spans every corner of the globe and every era of human history, the Louvre . After a splendid welcome by the Winged Victory of Samothrace, you’ll encounter Italian Renaissance masterpieces by Titian, Botticelli, Raphael and Da Vinci, culminating in the Mona Lisa. Next hit the Apollo Gallery, a Versailles-like chamber that houses the 140-carat Regent Diamond and the 2,490-diamond-studded crown of Empress Eugénie. Wrap up at Richelieu Level 2, with Bosch’s “Ship of Fools,” Vermeer’s “Astronomer” and the Rubens-filled Medici Gallery.
It may sound cheesy, but for postcard views of Paris’s icons — and a crash course in the city’s geography — float down the lazy Seine on a sightseeing cruise from Bateaux Parisiens . Time compresses like an accordion as you pass the gargoyles of Notre Dame Cathedral, the latticework of the Eiffel Tower and the Luxor obelisk at the Place de la Concorde, where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette met their grisly end at the guillotine.