The only difficulty you face when planning a visit to Europe is deciding where to go. There is so much to see, so many beautiful cities and so little time that you are spoilt for choice. In no particular order, these are five cities that you should see. There are many, many more such as Barcelona, Madrid, Budapest, Prague ?

London. When you tire of London you tire of life as someone once said, and it is still true even now. London is dirty, noisy, crowded and the public transport isn?t the best in the world but there is something about London that has to be experienced. Hyde park, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, a walk along the Thames, Harrods, Oxford Street, Covent Garden, Soho. You can go on and on.

Paris. If you are planning a visit to Europe, how could you not spend at least a few days in Paris? It is probably the most chic city in the world, with its beautiful architecture, cafes, churches, monuments, art galleries and more. Walk along the Seine or take a bateau mouche to see the city from the river, climb the Eiffel tower, visit Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, eat, drink and be merry.

Rome. Like London Rome is noisy, crowded and amazing. It has great food and great wine combined with thousands of years of history. Visit the roman forum, Vatican City, the Coliseum., the Fontana di Trevi and the Pantheon. As with all these cities, the only hard decision is what to miss out if you only have a limited time. You could live in Rome for a month and only scratch the surface.

Venice. Simply, the most beautiful city in the world. It has to be seem to be believed. After visiting St Mark?s Square and the main tourist sites, I would suggest leaving the normal tourist areas and wandering through the back streets to see something of the real Venice. Even during the long tourist season these are relatively empty, and you will stumble across many hidden gems, not only architecturally but also gastronomically.

Berlin. In common with the other cities, there is a lot of interesting history attached although Berlin is different in that much of it is more recent. You can follow the track marking out the Berlin wall, see the last remaining bits of wall (now preserved), Checkpoint Charlie, the last remaining watch tower and so on. There are also an astonishing number of museums and beer halls within easy reach, and of course the Berlin State Opera.

Finally, a little bit of language helps. English is widely spoken, especially in the tourist areas, but people appreciate it if you make an effort in their language. This doesn’t have to be more than hello, goodbye but it usually gets a good response. You will also find that in places where you might expect an understanding of English, such as the metro in Paris, it can surprisingly be absent.

Going to Paris for a shopping spree needs not put your household finances down for the next two years. It simply requires a little planning, and being let in on little-known shops offering bargain basement deals.

Paris is a shopping mosaic
Those of you who visited Paris already know that from a shopper’s perspective, the city is divided in broad sections where stores of the same trade tend to congregate. A mosaic of many colors, tastes, and price ranges.

Take Saint-Germain-des-Pr’s, for instance. The highest part of the famed area, situated closest to Boulevard St Germain, is home to designer clothing stores, sidewalk caf’s and restaurants. Dive in, and your footsteps will lead you to Rue de Seine where the art galleries have drawn together.

From Saint-Germain, walk up the Rue de Rennes, towards the Montparnasse area. You’ll be crossing the Rue Du Four where even more expensive clothiers line up the facades. But continue on to the Saint Sulpice metro station, around which many clothing stores offer cheaper garments and accessories.

Sales season in Paris
In another area of the city, not too far from the old Opera house, the Boulevard Haussmann became the homestead of the department stores over a century ago. The Printemps store was built there in 1865, followed closely by the Galeries Lafayette, in 1893. Department stores are not unlike Ali Baba’s treasure cave: clothes, shoes, jewelry, watches, accessories, perfumes spread on a five-story high, gigantic floor space.

Their selection is great, but you have to visit Paris during the official sale seasons to find true bargains there. And there are only two sales seasons in France: winter, and summer. Their respective starting dates in a given year are set by administrative decree, and they each last 6 weeks. In Paris the winter sale season usually starts in the second week of January. The summer sales season starts toward end-June.

Designer depot bargains
For off-season bargains look somewhere else. The gems are often to be found in small shops in God-forsaken streets, or in hard-to-find first-floor apartments. This is especially the case of designer depots.

Though it has become a brand name in North America, a designer depot is in fact a form of commerce. People like you and me bring in clothes we don’t want to wear anymore, and get a little money from the shop owner who will resell our garments for a little more money to other people.

I can hear your blas comments: “Tcha! Consignment stores! Thrift shops!…” Well, in Paris, designer depots aren’t exactly your regular Salvation Army-type stores. Not at all.

Though not all equal before God, Parisian designer depots are often owned and managed by women with a background in the fashion industry. Women with flair and a sharp eye for what to wear and how. Women who can readily tell you why you would look better in this dress than in that one.

In ‘designer depot”, there is the magic word ‘designer’. Parisian designer depots offer designer and couture clothes at deep, deep, deep discounts. And mind you, clothes in quasi perfect condition. Clothes worn only once. Well, maybe twice.

If you come to them with your regular hoodies, or your last season tennis shoes, or your mall-shopped polo shirt for that matter, do not expect to be welcomed. Expect rejection with a disapproving stare instead.

So, where do they hide?
Then again, not all designer depots were created equal, and where you go shopping for practically-perfect-in-every-way designer clothes is the true measure of your inside knowledge of the city.

I would like to recommend you three ‘petites adresses’ [the French for 'best-kept-secret places'] I selected amongst a host of others.

For those of you, ladies, who like the classic look, ‘Priscilla’ is the shop for you. Priscilla is lady who owns the place. She reveres such signature names as Yves Saint Laurent, Max Mara, Kenzo, Chistian Dior, and Sonya Rykiel. Her prices range from $60 for a skirt, to $75 for a jacket, to $130 for a lady’s suit. Priscilla advises you to rummage around, and come to her place with an open mind. The shop is located at 4 rue Mouton- Duvernet, in the 14 th district. The nearest metro station is Mouton-Duvernet. Its opening hours are between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm on Monday, and between 11:00 am and 7:00 pm from Tuesday to Saturday with a one-hour break at 1:30 pm.

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Paris is situated in the heart of the Ile-de France, capital of the country and world famous capital of fashion, art, architecture and the so-called bon-vivant lifestyle attracting million visitors a year seeking to enjoy some of the bustling activities taking place in almost every corner of the city. Whether for shopping, cultural events, music festivals, art exhibits and almost anything else, Paris seems to be the ideal frame for your dreaming vacations. Planning a trip to the French capital is however an easy task due to the large variety of city attractions and things to do elsewhere.

In Paris, there are no less than 170 theaters and over 134 museums so when it comes to culture and entertainment, you can bet there is something to see matching your personal preferences, including festivals, art exhibits and many other cultural events taking place in the city all year round. However, based in those preferences, you must plan carefully to pick the right services including accommodations closer to the places of your personal interest, although if you cannot afford a room in the Champs-Elysees, there are beautiful hotels alongside Paris riverbanks and across the city’s départements (boroughs.)

Travelers hive Paris boutiques, departments stores, and shopping malls wanting to take back home the latest fashion designer clothing and original perfumes and fragrances at reduced prices. Food and wine is also another exciting activity and a unique opportunity to enjoy them in the cradle of the French cuisine, nevertheless as a top-notch capital city, restaurants offer to visitors international and regional cuisine.

Lovers of simple life can find a haven of quiet a peaceful life at the tea restaurants that also serve taste salads and sandwiches with your cup of tea. Open-air cafés in Paris are called Open-air “guinguettes” and besides picturesque offer exquisite liqueurs as coffee companion.

Cafe bars in Paris are more popular during daylight that piano bars that are populated during the Parisian nightlife, when other shows wink at you inviting to the Crazy Horse Paris, Moulin Rouge and other burlesque shows famous all over the world since more than one hundred years.

Other venues to enjoy Paris night time include the Académié de lá brirë, performing acts at the Cite de la Musique (City of Music), and comedy acts at Lane Rouge. If you travel with a group of friends or your family, remember to ask your travel agent for group passes available for visiting stadium, monuments, museums and other venues at a reduced price. In Paris, a single pass can grant you access to over 50 different places and events!

Paris daylight or nightlight walk tours takes you straight to the Place de la Concorde, Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris, Eiffel Tower, the Palais Royal, its monumental fountain, the historic Le Jardin des Tuileries, and Musée du Louvre with its Pyramide Inversée (Inverted Pyramid). The Louvre was built in 1793 and houses some of the most important fine art and painting collections of all the times.

The Porte Saint-Martin is a Parisian monument located at the site of one of the gates of the now-destroyed fortifications of Paris. It is located at the crossing of Rue Saint-Martin, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin and the grands boulevards Boulevard Saint-Martin and Boulevard Saint-Denis.

The Gates of Paris
Two triumphal arches, at the Porte Saint-Martin and Porte Saint-Denis, were commissioned by Louis XIV to commemorate his military victories. Ever since 1670, reinforcement of France’s northeastern borders had allowed the removal of fortifications surrounding Paris, and this circumference was transformed into verdant promenades. During the centuries that followed, they were to become the “grand boulevards” of Paris.

Symbolically marking the entrances into 17th-century Paris at the sites of the old toll-gates, these two triumphal arches served only an ornamental function. Their sculptures and bas-reliefs celebrated the King as a head of war.
History of the Porte Saint-Martin

Porte-Saint-Martin, Théâtre de la, Paris, celebrated playhouse, built in 1782 to replace the Opéra, which had been burnt down. The opera company remained there until 1794, and the building was apparently not used as a theatre again until 1810, when one of the first plays to be presented was a melodrama by Pixérécourt. In 1822 an English company appeared unsuccessfully in Othello and in 1827 Frédérick played for the first time with Mme Dorval, whose career was to be linked spectacularly with the Porte-Saint-Martin. The great days of the theatre were in the 1830s, when it saw the first night of the elder Dumas’s Antony and Le Tour de Nesle and Hugo’s Marion Delorme and Lucrèce Borgia; but with the decline of Romantic drama the fortunes of the theatre also declined and in 1840 it closed after the banning of Balzac’s Vautrin. When it reopened it had no settled policy, but continued to present revivals and commonplace and lachrymose melodramas such as Dennery’s Marie-Jeanne; ou, La Femme du peuple (1846), in which Mme Dorval made her last appearance. It was burnt down in the rioting of 1870 and rebuilt on the original plans, but somewhat smaller. It had a further moment of glory in the 1880s when it was acquired by Sarah Bernhardt, who had appeared there 18 years earlier in the fairy-tale play La Biche au bois and now returned in a revival of Meilhac and Halévy’s Frou-Frou. In 1898 the record run of Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac again made the theatre one of the most popular in Paris. Because of its great size it was later unable to compete with the cinema, and from 1936 to 1978 it was devoted almost entirely to musical comedy. Marcel Marceau then took it over as a base for his École de mimodrame. It housed the Comédie-Française when the latter was strike-ridden, and in 1989 staged an adaptation of Camus’s novel La Peste.
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Introduction The Museums of Paris

Perhaps frenetic is the best word to describe architectural and arts activity in Paris during the last two decades. While Mitterand was in office, the French government instituted a series of grand projets, thereby assuring that Paris would become the focus of international attention. A number of new museums were created, in part to relieve the Louvre of its overcrowding, and to establish thematic exhibits, typified by such locales as the Institut du Monde Arabe.

For those who plan to visit many monuments and museums during your séjour à Paris, Discover France offers the “Museums and Monuments Card” (Carte Musées et Monuments), valid for unlimited visits and priority access to approximately 70 locations in — and near — Paris. It can also be purchased at the Paris Tourist Office (127, avenue des Champs-Elysées), at its reception offices in certain Paris train stations, at the Eiffel Tower, in the major Métro stations, or at most of the 70 attractions. Cards are available in denominations valid for either one, three, or five consecutive days.

Since Parisians regard museum-going as a normal cultural pastime, most often indulged in on weekends, you should try to visit most exhibits on weekdays, if possible. Of course, if budgetary constraints are an issue, Sundays are often half-price and sometimes free. Private art galleries usually cost nothing, and the free views of Parisian architecture offer a grandiose experience in themselves, while the many street artists provide itinerant amusement.

The Salon Chopin, situated in the Bibliothèque Polonaise de Paris (6, quai d’Orléans, 75004), is a room dedicated to the memory of the composer, Chopin, containing personal memorabilia, paintings, manuscripts, documents, and music. Public access is limited to four guided tours on Thursdays or by appointment.

Three times the size of the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie is a massive monument with walls of glass, which would seem almost unapproachable if not for its Géode, a bubble of reflecting steel that seems like it was dropped from an intergalactic game of boules into a pool of water. Within the Géode, half the sphere consists of the largest projection screen on the planet. The Cité was built in 1986, with a futuristic rooftop lighting system designed to follow the sun across the sky. The permanent Explora show whisks visitors through 323,000 square feet of “space, life, matter and communication” exhibits, featuring scale models of satellites, planes and robots. A number of multimedia shows take place both in the second-floor Planetarium and the hemispherical cinema of the Géode, which are very popular with children. (Admission free with the card.)

Though it originally served as the royal tennis court, built under Napoleon III, the Jeu de Paume was converted into a museum at the beginning of the 20th century. As the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, it inherited an important collection of Impressionist paintings in 1947. Alas, this collection was transferred to the Musée d’Orsay in 1986. Recently, it has been converted to a showcase for contemporary art and photographic exhibits.

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The Luxembourg Palace in Paris, the first great example of French classical architecture during the 17th century, was the culmination of the long tradition of the chateau as a building type. It was commissioned in 1615 by Marie de Médicis, regent of France, for a site on the Left Bank then occupied by the Hôtel du Luxembourg, from which the name was derived. The regent favored an Italianate structure modeled after Palazzo Pitti in her native Florence, but the architect Salomon de Brosse followed a typically French layout of wings surrounding a court, with the chief living quarters and chapel facing the garden. The west wing was the original site of the paintings (1622-25; Louvre, Paris) by Peter Paul Rubens depicting the regent’s life.

Luxembourg PalaceDuring the 19th century the palace was extensively remodeled: the garden facade was added (1836-41) by Alphonse de Gisors, and a cycle of paintings (1845-47) by Eugène Delacroix was added to the library. The building was a prison during the Revolution, used for the peace conference of 1946, and now houses the French Senate.

The Palais du Luxembourg in the VIe arrondissement of Paris, north of the Jardin du Luxembourg, is the seat of French Senate.

The formal Luxembourg Garden (French: Jardin du Luxembourg) presents a 25-hectare green parterre of gravel and lawn populated with statues and provided with large basins of water where children sail model boats. In the southwest corner, there is an orchard of apple and pear trees and the théâtre des marionnettes

The Luxembourg Palace lies in beautiful surroundings in the northern part of the Luxembourg Garden. The palace which was originally built for King Louis XIII’s mother, is now the seat of the French senate.

The Luxembourg Palace was never used by the mother of King Louis XIII, and remained empty for a long period. The palace has since then among other purposes served as the residence of Napoleon Bonaparte and the head quarter of Herman Göring.

During the 20th century the palace went through a substantial renovation, and the now famous Luxembourg Garden was added to the property.

Luxembourg Garden
A real Parisian favorite, the Jardin du Luxembourg is a magnificent, harmonious 25-hectare green oasis on Paris’ fashionable Left Bank. The formal gardens are populated with many statues (including one of Sainte-Gèneviève, patron saint of Paris), fountains and beautiful flowers. In the southwest corner, there is an orchard where several hundred species of apple and pear trees blossom each spring. Children love the park, too, especially for its parc à jeux (playground) and the théâtre des marionettes (puppet theater); they can also rent boats and sail them in the glassy ponds. Sunday afternoon band concerts draw a crowd in the summer. The sprawling grounds are usually animated by lovers, students, chess aficionados, games of boules, and tennis players.

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The Eiffel Tower, an immense stucture of exposed latticework supports made of puddle iron, was erected for the Paris Exposition of 1889. The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII of England) officiated at the ceremonial opening. Of the 700 proposals submitted in a design competition, one was unanimously chosen, a radical creation from the French structural engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (b. Dec. 15, 1832, d. Dec. 28, 1923), who was assisted in the design by engineers Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, and architect Stephen Sauvestre.

However, the controversial tower elicited some strong reactions, and a petition of 300 names — including those of Guy de Maupassant, Émile Zola, Charles Garnier (architect of the Opéra Garnier), and Alexandre Dumas fils — was presented to the city government, protesting its construction. The petition read, “We, the writers, painters, sculptors, architects and lovers of the beauty of Paris, do protest with all our vigour and all our indignation, in the name of French taste and endangered French art and history, against the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower.”

Nature lovers thought that it would interfere with the flight of birds over Paris. But the Eiffel Tower was admired by Rousseau, Utrillo, Chagall, and Delaunay. It was almost torn down in 1909 at the expiration of its 20-year lease, but was saved because of its antenna — used for telegraphy at that time. Beginning in 1910 it became part of the International Time Service. French radio (since 1918), and French television (since 1957) have also made use of its stature. In the 1960s, it was the subject of a wonderful study by semiologist Roland Barthes.

Built to celebrate the science and engineering achievements of its age, soaring 300m / 984 ft. (320.75m / 1,052 ft. including antenna) and weighing 7000 tons, the structure consists of two visibly distinct parts: a base composed of a platform resting on four separate supports (called pylons or bents) and, above this, a slender tower created as the bents taper upward, rising above a second platform to merge in a unified column.

This unprecedented work, the tallest structure in the world until the Empire State Building was built about 40 years later, had several antecedents. Among them were the iron-supported railway viaducts designed by Eiffel, an arch bridge over the Douro River in Portugal with a span of 160 m (525 ft), and a design for a circular, iron-frame tower proposed by the American engineers Clarke and Reeves for the Centennial Exposition of 1876. Eiffel knew and publicly acknowledged this influence; he was no stranger to the United States, having designed the wrought-iron pylon inside Frederic Bartholdi’s Statue of Liberty in 1885. Later in the same year, he had also begun work on the cupola of the Nice observatory.

Eiffel was the leading European authority on the aerodynamics of high frames (he wrote “The Resistance of the Air” in 1913). In the construction of the Eiffel Tower, the curve of the base pylons was precisely calculated so that the bending and shearing forces of the wind were progressively transformed into forces of compression, which the bents could withstand more effectively. Such was Eiffel’s engineering wizardry that even in the strongest winds his tower never sways more than 4-1/2 inches. The superskyscrapers erected since 1960, such as the World Trade Center, were constructed in much the same way.

However difficult its birth may have been, the Tour Eiffel is now completely accepted by French citizens, and is internationally recognized as one of the symbols of Paris itself.

Facilities and Views
In the basements of the eastern and western pillars, one can visit the gargantuan 1899 machinery which powers the elevators, an astonishing spectacle reminiscent of a Jules Verne novel. From the Tower’s three platforms — especially the topmost — the view of Paris is superb. It is generally agreed that one hour before sunset, the panorama is at its best; don’t forget to bring your camera, and experiment with the f-stop settings to capture a dazzling sunset on the Seine. If you can’t be there in person, then check out a Live Aerial View of Paris with TF1’s webcam online: from the top of the Eiffel Tower, you can see Paris in real time, 24 hours a day, whatever the weather conditions in the French capital. To get the most out of this view of Paris, we suggest you surf their web site between 7:00 AM and 9:00 PM GMT (1:00 AM and 3:00 PM Eastern Time in the U.S.), when the City of Light is at its best.

First level: 57.63 meters (189 feet). Observatory from which to study the movements of the Eiffel Tower’s summit. Kiosk presentation about the mythic painting of the Eiffel Tower. Space CINEIFFEL: offers an exceptional panorama of sights from the Tower. Souvenir shops (yes, every tourist MUST have a miniature replica). Restaurant “Altitude 95″ (phone 01-45-55-20-04). Post office, with special stamps “Paris Eiffel Tower “. Panoramic gallery displaying the Monuments of Paris.

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