Guides - Insight Guides: Experience Paris (Insight Experience Guides)

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Capital of romance, of fashion, of food, of intellectuals and philosophers, famed for its historic buildings and monuments and for that indefinable je ne sais quoi that makes up French chic, Paris is a city that likes to live up to its myths; but it is also a modern working city, of financial institutions, of scientific discoveries and learned research institutes.

Dont be fooled into thinking of Paris as a museum. Paris has always modernised, over the centuries expanding in concentric circles outwards from the Ile de la Cit, and has never been afraid to drop in radical new monuments or reinvent old ones. On the one hand you can find Roman baths sticking up in the middle of a Gothic mansion, on the other the glass pyramid at the Louvre and a futuristic ship designed by Frank Gehry that has just sailed into the Bois de Boulogne. Two of the most recent cultural venues occupy both a converted theatre and a covered market, new parks have been created around the citys edges, and an entire new district is taking root above old railway sidings around the new Bibliothque Nationale, along the Seine.

If there is one recommended requisite to making the most of the city, it is curiosity. This is a place where you come to admire the grand facades and imperious vistas, the world-renowned museums and glorious churches but must also be everready to peer through carriage doorways or wander down passageways to discover the hidden gardens, concealed houses and workshops that make up the private, intimate Paris behind the bravura. One of the most appealing aspects of the city is that it is intensely lived in. Part of the fun of wandering round the streets is discovering the local street market, the favourite spot for a coffee and the best baker. Undeterred by the 2015 terrorist attacks, residents continue to privilege what they call the style de vie lifestyle which means that for all the apparent rush, there is always time to stroll around the food market or sit at a caf terrace for coffee or an apritif.

In the Mood for

... gastronomy

Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications

Evidence of the Parisians love of food can be seen everywhere from street markets and busy lunchtime cafs to grand dining establishments. While the image relayed abroad is often of elitist grand dining involving squadrons of waiters and silver cloches awarded Unesco heritage status in 2010 and once-in-a-lifetime meals in the sumptuous surroundings of Le Grand Vfour (for more information, ) always with an emphasis on quality ingredients but retaining the informal mood and reasonable prices.

... romance

Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications

Paris enjoys an image as one of the worlds most romantic cities, yet what makes it romantic is hard to pin down. Rather, it all comes down to an endless collection of the smallest things: misty early morning views of the quais of Ile St-Louis (for more information, ).

... retail therapy

Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications

Paris lives up to its reputation as a fashion capital with the couture houses of avenue Montaigne (for more information, ), an endearing relic of the Les Halles market.

... observing Parisians

Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications

What could be more Parisian than watching Parisians? Parisians excel at it, sitting on caf terraces to see and be seen. Maybe thats what caf society is all about: spotting famous faces at Caf de Flore and Les Deux Magots (for more information, ).

... a view