Attractions & Activities  :  Art Museums

The ineffable character of Paris embraces visitors from the moment they step foot into the city. That welcome is strong, perhaps, because the city is infused with a palpable sense of timelessness and because travelers carry a perceived familiarity with the city, brought about by a lifetime of images. The Eiffel Tower, for example, defines Paris in cinema, serving as an instant trigger of memory and locale. And everyone knows Notre Dame, either as Paris’s religious landmark or as the home of Quasimodo, Victor Hugo’s fictional hunchback. The reality of these places, however, is much more than photographs indicate, and history, art and setting deepen significantly with tangible experience. In short, there’s nothing like being there. And in a city riddled with monuments like Napoleon’s L’Arc de Triomphe and Hôtel des Invalides (where he’s interred), there’s plenty to see. Well-designed greenspaces like Le Jardin des Tuileries and Le Jardin du Luxembourg prove mesmerizing, and beyond Paris proper lies Versailles, a paean to wealth and extravagance. Finally, don’t forget to delve into the catacombs, a veritable sculpture of exhumed bones, or to visit Père Lachaise cemetery, whose lasting quiet cradles folks like Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde and Gertrude Stein.