Top 50 Tourist Attractions

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1 PARIS Top 50 Tourist Attractions Musée du Louvre The Louvre Museum was originally a 12th century fortress for Phillip II, and when Louis XIV finally left it for the Palace of Versailles it had various uses until it became an art museum in It is now the most visited art museum in the world, with exhibits such as the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa (La Joconde) among its 380,000 objects - too many great works to mention here. The museum displays 35,000 works of art. The glass pyramid was inaugurated in 1988, and the inverted pyramid was completed in You can use cameras and cine-cameras, but flash is forbidden. The main entrance also contains a shopping mall, the first French Apple store and a very controversial MacDonalds! Place du Carrousel Paris Métro [Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre]

2 Musée du Louvre

3 PARIS Top 50 Tourist Attractions Tour Eiffel The Eiffel Tower is Paris s most famous monument to tourists, and was originally built for the 1889 French Exposition, the World s Fair of that year. With three floors and nine elevators, the spire is 1063 ft high (324 m), and the top floor 896 ft (273 m). In spite of its lattice construction, wind movement is only 3-4 inches. You can purchase stair or elevator tickets for the first two levels, but the third as accessible by elevator only. There restaurants on the first and second floors, the latter being an expensive Michelin Star restaurant, Le Jules Verne. It was the world s tallest structure when built, but no longer of course. Champ de Mars Paris Subway [Trocadéro]

4 Tour Eiffel

5 PARIS Top 50 Tourist Attractions Cathédrale Notre Dame Known in English simply the Notre Dame Cathedral, and translated as Our Lady of Paris, this is one of the world s great gothic cathedrals, made particularly famous by Victor Hugo s novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Built between 1163 and 1345 on the Île de la Cité in the Seine, this is an iconic French Gothic cathedral, and of the first to use flying buttresses. The fabulous organ is now computer controlled, and of the five bells, the heaviest, or bourdon bell, (Emmanuel) weighs over 13 tons and is rung to mark the hours of each day. The reliquary is said to contain the Crown of Thorns, originally held in La Sainte-Chapelle. 6, Parvis Notre-Dame Place Jean-Paul II Paris Subway [Cité]

6 Cathédrale Notre Dame

7 PARIS Top 50 Tourist Attractions Château de Versailles Otherwise known as the Palace of Versailles, Le Château de Versailles is the most famous palace in the world. It was originally a hunting lodge built in 1623 by Louis XIII, but was redesigned between 1661 and 1700 as the residence of King Louis XIV, the Sun King who had previously lived in the Louvre. The garden is also the most famous in the world, and a must for any visitor to Paris. It has 1300 fountains, and there is a fountain show each weekend from April to September. Don t kiss the Hall of Mirrors or the King s Bedroom, and visitors can get a guided tour in English, French or Spanish. The Palace has 2,000 windows, 1200 fireplaces and 67 staircases servicing 700 rooms! Versailles Subway [Versailles-Chantiers]

8 Château de Versailles

9 PARIS Top 50 Tourist Attractions Basilique du Sacré-Coeur The Basilique Sacré-Coeur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart) is a Roman Catholic church, made a basilica in 1919 after World War I. It is one of Paris s famous landmarks, standing on its highest point in Montmartre where the city s patron saint, St Denis, was said to be beheaded in the 3rd century. The gleaming white building offers a fabulous view over the city - by day and night! If you can t climb the stairs, take the funicular. You will find a statue of Joan of Arc on the right at the front, and Louis XIV on the left: above you will see St. Michael slaying a dragon. This is a good place in the evening with crowds gathering and guitars playing. 35, rue du Chevalier de la Barre Paris Subway [Anvers]

10 Basilique du Sacré-Coeur