The City of Lights

Another Angelina specialty, Mont Blanc, prepared with chestnut paste, sugar, milk, and butter, looks like a muffin, but tastes out of this world.

The original Laduree on Rue Royale (16 Rue Royale, 75001 ) off Place de la Concorde offers a breakfast buffet, which is outstanding, BUT when we were there, none of the staff understood even rudimentary English. Since we couldn't figure out how the breakfast buffet worked (you never know-another story another time,) and we ended up pointing to things on the menu, which thankfully had English subtitles.

Maybe we were there at a bad time or ordered the wrong dishes, and I feel bad putting down one of Paris's bastions of fine dining, but the only thing we liked was PART of ONE appetizer. We had the full range: appetizers, salads, entrees, and desserts (come on -- how did they get a dessert in Paris wrong??), and I don't think it was a fluke that none of them impressed us.

http://www.goumard.com/page5.html

Check out Fauchon and Hediard, both gourmet grocery and food stores, behind La Madeleine. The desserts in Fauchon are to die for. Seriously, if you have a sweet tooth and happen to be in Paris, it is absolutely worth the trip. If not, it has three branches in New York City, which fly in all the ingredients (including water!) from France several times a week.

For a sheer sense of open space in the middle of a bustling megapolis, from the Obelisk of Luxor, a pink granite monolith in the center, you can see a mile up the Champs-Elysees and a mile through the Jardin des Tuileries to the Musee du Louvre. La Madeline is a half-mile away on Rue Royale, and the Assemblée Nationale is another half-mile across the river Seine.

At the base is the Grave of the Unknown Soldier, symbolizing the millions of soldiers who died in World War I.

There is an elevator, but it was closed when we were there. The stairs are an endless spiral, but eventually you'll get there. The view from the top gives you some idea of how big Paris is. In every direction, stretching into the horizon, is the endless city, with over 2,000 years of history.

The top level, at 280 meters, offers spectacular views of the area for miles, with panorama indicators of the landmarks and viewpoint indicators of distances to various major cities around the world. The first and second floors have several exhibits, restaurants, souvenir shops, restrooms, telephones, and even Internet stations.

Note: The museum pass does not cover the Eiffel Tower.

The Ministry of Justice occupies other buildings in the ‘square’ -- which is actually octagonal in shape -- and dates back to the early 1700s.

Completed in 1978, the building was built ‘inside-out.’ All the plumbing, HVAC, water mains, elevators, and escalators were built outside and color-coded, making it look like a futuristic building from a science fiction movie.

Unverified tip: There is an elevator to the left of the main entrance to access the restaurant Georges. Might help skipping the lines to the museum, but you've gotta look super-cool and debonaire -- else the security guard will want to verify your reservation. ;)

Walk to the back of the cathedral for the best views of Notre Dame, the Seine River, and a peaceful little garden.

It was built around 1245 AD to house, among other things, Christ’s Crown of Thorns, and is celebrated for its stained glass windows. When you remind yourself that they are not merely sheets of painted glass, but thousands of pieces of different-colored glass cut into shapes and fitted into lead strips, it will make you truly appreciate the amount of work and creativity that went into making every single window. It is well worth the visit, as you can get really close to them, unlike other monuments in Paris.

Versailles is a whole day trip -- trying to do it in half a day might leave you feeling you missed out.

Tip: This is one place where you will kiss your museum pass. There is actually a separate entrance for museum pass holders, and we walked right past the long line stretching to the gate and beyond.

We saw some of the musts: Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, Cupid and the Swan, and of course, the Mona Lisa. The crown jewels section was closed, which was disappointing. The Louvre website lists the galleries and the days they are open, so check that out if you want to see something specific.

Unverified tip: Entrance to the Louvre through the Carrousel du Louvre shopping center has much shorter lines.