Petit Palais

The Petit Palais, built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, is one of Paris's free museums. It specialises in medieval and Renaissance objets d'art, such as porcelain and clocks, tapestries, drawings, and 19th century French paintings and sculpture; there are also paintings by such artists as Rembrandt, Colbert, Cezanne, Monet, Gauguin and Delacroix.

Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its value lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. It was designed in 1806, and its iconography of heroically nude French youths against bearded Germanic warriors, sets the tone for public monuments with triumphant patriotic messages. 

View from Rue Royale

View to the Luxor Obelisk, the Palais Bourbon and Les Invalides from the busy rue Royale in Paris.

Parc Monceau

Louis Carrogis Carmontelle the designer of Parc Monceau wrote: "It is not necessary for gardens or nature to be presented in the most agreeable forms. It's necessary instead to preserve the charm that one encounters entering the garden, and to renew it with each step, so that the visitor in his soul will have the desire to revisit the garden every day and to possess it for himself. The true art is to know how to keep the visitors there, through a variety of objects, otherwise they will go to the real countryside to find what should be found in this garden; the image of liberty."

View from La Madeleine

View from La Madeleine church in the 8th arrondissement. The flowers planted along the steps of La Madeleine add a lovely and unexpected dose of colour to the austerity of the Church's facade.  

Square Louis XVI

Square Louis XVI is where King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette were initially buried in a mass grave after their execution by guillotine at the Place de la Concorde (their remains were later transferred to the royal basilica of Saint Denis in 1815). It is also where the Chapelle Expiatoire is located, which was erected in their memory. It is the only public place in Paris bearing Louis XVI's name. However, despite its grisly history, Square Louis XVI is now a beautiful spot of greenery in the 8th arrondissement. 

Pont Alexandre III

Pont Alexandre III is a Beaux-Arts style bridge, with its Art Nouveau lamps, cherubs, nymphs and winged horses at either end. It was built between 1896 and 1900 and was named after Tsar Alexander III, who concluded the Franco-Russian alliance in 1892. 

View along Champs Élysées to La Defense from the Arc de Triomphe

The Champs Élysées, La Défense and the Arc de Triomphe are all part of the Axe historique (or the historical axis). La Defense (the arch that appears at the end of the Champs Elysées in the photo above), is regarded as the 20th century version of the Arc de Triomphe. Instead of celebrating military victories, it is instead dedicated to humanity and humanitarian ideals. 

Winston Churchill and the Petit Palais

The Petit Palais is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. Built for the 1900 Exposition Universalle, it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts (Musee des beaux-arts-de la ville de Paris). It is located across from the Grand Palais on Avenue Winston Churchill. In addition to its artefacts, its interior garden welcomes visitors and is a peaceful green oasis.

Parc Monceau

Claude Monet painted a series of three paintings of the Parc Monceau in the spring of 1876. He painted three further paintings of the park in 1878. Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), the French Romantic composer and conductor also loved the park. It is not hard to see why....

La Madelaine

The Eglise de la Madeleine is situated between Place de la Concorde and the Palais Garnier opera house. Its construction started in 1764 and finished in 1842. Its appearance is atypical of that of a religious building, in the form of a Greek temple without any crosses or bell towers. Napoleon wanted it to be a pantheon in honour of his armies.

View towards Pont Alexandre III bridge and Les Invalides

The Pont Alexandre III spans the Seine and connects the Champs-Elysees quarter with those of the Invalides and Eiffel Tower. The bridge is widely regarded as the most ornate, extravagant bridge in the city. Les Invalides is a complex of buildings relating to the military history of France, including a retirement home for war veterans (the building's original purpose), and the Royal Chapel, the tallest church in Paris, which houses the tomb of Napoleon. 

Arc de Triomphe

The Arc de Triomphe, or the Great Roundabout, as I like to call it, stands at the end of the Champs-Elysees. It is located at the intersection of three arrondissements, the 16th, the 17th and the 8th. It honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The Arc is part of a historic axis of monuments in Paris (known as the Axe historique), which also includes the Louvre, Les Garden des Tuileries, Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Elysees, travelling some 10km to La Defense.

Parc Monceau

An elegant park, which dates back to the 17th century, Parc Monceau covers 20 acres and feels like a historic upmarket theme park. Scattered amidst beautiful trees and a large pond are various follies representing many parts of the world, including a Roman ruin, an Egyptian pyramid, and a Dutch windmill. Parc Monceau is surrounded by luxury buildings and sumptuous mansions. Stylish, yet tranquil, it is visited by Parisians and tourists alike.

Place de la Concorde

Home to the Luxor Obelisk, an Egyptian obelisk which is over 3,300 years old. The Place itself was created in 1772 and was the site of the execution of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette and about 1,300 other people during the French Revolution. Although "Place" in French means "Square", is is actually in the shape of an octagon! It lies at the western end of the Tuileries.