Paris [antikvár]

To see hov/ Paris developed in successive stages over the centuries, probably the best way to start is to climb to the top of one of the towers at Notre-Dame Cdthedrai, where even the most hurried visitor can stop and view the city in all its splendour. There, the Seine encircles the birth place of the city, the Ile de la Cité, "the head, heart and marrow of Paris", as one 12th-century author described the place where the Gauls and then the Romans settled. Next wend your way up to Sainte-Genevieve, one of the mountains of Paris: from the dome of the Panthéon, you can see over the Latin Quarter, with myriads of enclosed courtyards. To complete this view of the Left Bank, go to the top of the Tour Montparnasse. Follow it with a trip to the Eiffel Tower and the top of the Arch of Triumph to see the western part of the city with its broad streets lined with dwellings of the well-to-do and then the Bois de Boulogne. To the north, climb the steps to Montmartre, the highest of Paris's hills. From there you can admire the massive Opera House with its venSgrised copper roof and make out the heights of the Pere-Lachaise cemetery and the working-class district of Menil-montant. The writing staircase at La Bastille reveals the hidden secrets of the Marais district. Getting your last wind, try the Vendôme column and the Tour Saint-Jacques, and end up at the top of the Grande Arche for a sweeping panorama of the city. Other view points on the French capital are presented in the following pages. Look at the historic city through the monuments created by preceding generations as well as at the major architectural additions of the recent past, that make Paris the capital of museums. Discover, too, the Paris of Parisians, with its cafes, its lesser known gardens, its aristocratic dwellings, as well as its "hundred villages" all behind massive portals. Just as importantly, there is also the "Cosmopolitan" Paris open to creativity and brimming with a life rich in cultural experiences. It is no wonder that Paris has become one of cultural capitals of Europe.