1. Vaux le Vicomte
Vaux is a short 45 minutes drive from Paris and is a great place to spend half a day at. Constructed from 1658 to 1661 by Nicolas Fouquet. Make sure to visit in the morning so you can experience a beautiful sunrise above the castle and gardens.
2. Musée Carnavalet
The Musée Carnavalet is an example of historical development of Paris from ancient times to present. A large number of rooms show how homes from different time periods looked like, including rooms of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and their families. Seeing history through the furniture, ambience and historical articles articles at this museum allows you to travel back in time when French monarchy ruled.
3. Conciergerie
Previous royal residence, Musée Carnavalet, accommodates an adjusted jail with medieval vaulted roofs. The jail is famous for sending about 3,000 individuals to the guillotine during the French Revolution. This included the queen Marie Antoinette and you can visit her cell which is far more “luxurious” compared to other cells at Temple Prison.
4. Le Grand Véfour
This famous restaurant close to the Louvre is a top place for a fine supper in case you are ready to spend ridiculous amount of money. You could sit in same chairs where by Napoleon and Josephine or Victor Hugo once sat.
5. Napoleon III Apartments
At the Louvre, Richelieu Wing, first floor, rooms are reproduced as they looked like for imperial and “blue blooded” people living in Paris throughout the rule of Napoleon III (1852 to 1870). Napoleon III was Napoleon’s nephew and grandson of Josephine.
6. Galeries Lafayette
Galeries Lafayette was finished in 1912. The stunning stained glass vault and “art nouveau” staircase are the centre point of this mall. Shopping here is incredible, it includes everything from branded cosmetics to “haute couture”. You can indulge in magnificent views of Paris from the roof while sipping champagne in the champagne bar after your shopping.
7. Spot de Flore and Les Deux Magots
These two bistros will throw you back to nineteenth Century in bohemian Paris. Today these places attract most of the journalists but before they were frequently visited by Pablo Picasso, Victor Hugo and Sartre.
8. Grand Palais
A beautiful Beaux-Arts building, the Grand Palais, is definitely worth a visit due to it´s extraordinary glass vault with an iron and steel frame. It is a large historic site and also an exhibition and museum complex. It was built to demonstrate the glory of French Art in 1900.
