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City Orientation Walk in Paris, Paris
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City Orientation Walk in Paris
Guide Location: France » Paris
Guide Type: Self-guided city tour
# of Attractions: 10
Tour Duration: 4 hour(s)
Transportation Mode: by foot
Travel Distance: 8.9 km
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Steve
Author: karen
Paris is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful European cities, attracting thousands of tourists every year. The "City of Light" offers so many possibilities that, without a proper travel plan, it would be difficult to take full advantage of everything, whether you have a day or a month in Paris. The tour presented below will guide you through some of the most renowned and definitely worth visiting attractions in Paris.
Tour Stops and Attractions
Tour Eiffel
1) Tour Eiffel
The Eiffel Tower is a 19th century iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris that has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower, which is the tallest building in Paris, is the single most visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year. Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the tower was built as the entrance arch for the 1889 World's Fair. The tower stands 324 m (1,063 ft) tall, about the same height as an 81-story building. It was the tallest man-made structure in the world from its completion until 1930, when it was eclipsed by the Chrysler Building in New York City. The tower has become the most prominent symbol of both Paris and France, often in the establishing shot of films set in the city.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Benh LIEU SONG
Sight description based on wikipedia
Musee du Quai Branly
2) Musee du Quai Branly
Situated close to the Eiffel Tower, the Musée du quai Branly, is a museum in Paris that features original art, cultures and civilizations from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. In English it is known as the Quai Branly Museum nicknamed MQB. It is named after its location which in turn is named after the physicist Edouard Branly.

The most unexpected feature of Branly building is the 8,600 square foot vertical garden that gives its one face at the corner, the appearance of a wooly animal. Architect Jean Nouvel designed the building and Patrick Blanc proposed and planted the "living wall" (200m long by 12m tall) on part of the exterior of the museum. Patrick Blanc’s hydroponic Vertical Garden System, known as Le Mur Vegetal in French, allows both plants and buildings to live in harmony with one another.

Implementing the “living wall” was a huge project estimated to cost $266 million. President Jacques Chirac announced the project in 1996. Creation of the museum required that two respected French museums would give up their collections. This initiated hot debate among curators, anthropologists, and art historians. The biggest challenge was to present items as diverse as a mask from New Guinea, a Nepalese bronze Buddha, or a terra-cotta jar from Central America in the best possible manner.

The museum contains the collections of the now-closed museums. It contains 267,000 objects in its permanent collection of which 3,500 items are on display. The museum contains several buildings, a multimedia library and a garden.

The museum's frontage facing quai Branly features very tall glass paneling which allows visitors to have a spectacular view of its interior gardens from outside as well!
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Karibo
Sight description based on wikipedia
Musée Rodin
3) Musée Rodin
The Musée Rodin in Paris, France, is a museum that was opened in 1919 in the Hôtel Biron and surrounding grounds. It displays works by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Rodin used the Hôtel Biron as his residence from 1908, and subsequently donated his entire collection of sculptures to the French State on the condition that they turn the building into a museum dedicated to his works. The Musée Rodin contains most of Rodin's significant creations, including The Thinker, The Kiss and The Gates of Hell. Many of his sculptures are displayed in the museum's extensive garden. The gardens around the museum building contain many of the famous sculptures in natural settings. Behind the museum building is a small lake and casual restaurant. The museum has also a room dedicated to works of Camille Claudel. Some paintings by Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh which were in Rodin's personal collections are also presented.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and deror avi
Sight description based on wikipedia
Musée de l'Orangerie
4) Musée de l'Orangerie
The Musée de l'Orangerie is an art gallery of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings located on the Place de la Concorde in Paris. It contains works by Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Rousseau, Chaim Soutine, Alfred Sisley and Maurice Utrillo among others. The gallery is on the bank of the Seine in the old orangery of the Tuileries Palace on the Place de la Concorde near the Concorde metro station.
A cycle of Monet's water-lily paintings, known as the Nympheas, was arranged on the ground floor of the Orangerie in 1927. The museum has housed the Walter-Guillaume collection of impressionist paintings since 1965. The Orangerie was renovated in order to move the paintings to the upper floor of the gallery. They are now available under direct diffused light as was originally intended by Monet.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Homonihilis
Sight description based on wikipedia
Musée d'Orsay
5) Musée d'Orsay
Located on the left bank of River Seine, Musee d’Orsay is a famous museum in Paris which houses many sculptures and impressionist and post impressionist paintings. Many of these works were held there prior to the museum's opening in 1986.

At the turn of the 19th century, two large railway stations were built in Paris namely the “Gare de Lyon” and the “Gare d'Orsay”. The Gare d'Orsay had more important location and was planned by the “Compagnie d'Orléans”. The metal used for the construction of Gare d’Orsay was more than the amount of metal used for the construction of Eiffel Tower.

The Gare d'Orsay was opened on the 14th July 1900 for the Paris World Exposition and was known as a jewer of the industrial architecture. Originally it was a railway station named Gare d’Orsay. By 1939 the station became unsuitable for the longer trains. After 1939 it was used for suburban services and part of it became a mailing centre during World War II. It was then used as a set for several films, as a haven for the “Renaud-Barrault Theatre Company” and for auctioneers.

The train station had been completely abandoned since 1961 when it was saved from demolition by the French president Pompidou. In 1977 the French Government chose to change the station to a museum for 19th and 20th century art. “Bouygues” took over the construction work according to the design of well reputed ACT Architecture while the Italian architect “Gae Aulenti” looked after the process of conversion.

On 1 December 1986, President Francois Mitterrand cut the ribbon for the museum known as the “Musee d'Orsay” whose permanent collection spans four levels and a terrace. An impressive 20,000 sq. m. of new floor space was created on four floors. Countless great works from the impressionist and expressionist movements can be found here including objects focusing on Naturalism, Realism, Architecture and Sculpture.

This museum will surely be one of the most stunning museums you have ever visited!
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Benh
Sight description based on wikipedia
Musée du Louvre
6) Musée du Louvre
The Musée du Louvre is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited museum in the world, and a historic monument. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) which began as a fortress built in the late 12th century under Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are still visible. The Musée du Louvre contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments with more than 60,600 square metres (652,000 sq ft) dedicated to the permanent collection. As of 2008, the collection is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings. The Louvre exhibits sculptures, objets d'art, paintings, drawings, and archaeological finds. It is the world's most visited museum, averaging 15,000 visitors per day, 65 percent of whom are tourists.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Debianux
Sight description based on wikipedia
Saint-Germain-des-Prés
7) Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Saint-Germain-des-Prés is a famous neighborhood in Paris. The area attracts many tourists due to the numerous restaurants and cafés. It is also famed for the medieval church Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés located there.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and Briséis
Jardin du Luxembourg
8) Jardin du Luxembourg
The Jardin du Luxembourg is the largest public park located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. The garden is largely devoted to a green parterre of gravel and lawn populated with statues and centred on a large octagonal basin of water, with a central jet of water; in it children sail model boats. The garden is famed for its calm atmosphere. Surrounding the bassin on the raised balustraded terraces are a series of statues of former French queens, saints and copies after the Antique. In the southwest corner, there is an orchard of apple and pear trees and the théâtre des marionnettes (puppet theatre). The gardens include a large fenced-in playground for young children and their parents and a vintage carousel. In addition, free musical performances are presented in a gazebo on the grounds and there is a small cafe restaurant nearby, under the trees, with both indoor and outdoor seating from which many people enjoy the music over a glass of wine.
Image Courtesy of Flickr and Anna Fox
Sight description based on wikipedia
Panthéon
9) Panthéon
The Panthéon is a building in the Latin Quarter in Paris, containing the remains of distinguished French citizens. In 1744, King Louis XV of France suffered from a serious illness and vowed to replace the old church of the Abbey of St Genevieve if he recovered. He did recover, and entrusted Abel-François Poisson, marquis de Marigny with the fulfillment of his vow. In 1755, Marigny commissioned Jacques-Germain Soufflot to design the church, with construction beginning two years later It is an early example of neoclassicism, with a façade modeled on the Pantheon in Rome, surmounted by a dome that owes some of its character to Bramante's "Tempietto". Soufflot had the intention of combining the lightness and brightness of the gothic cathedral with classical principles, but its role as a mausoleum required the great gothic windows to be blocked. Nevertheless, it is one of the most important architectural achievements of its time and the first great neoclassical monument.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and ChrisO
Sight description based on wikipedia
Musée de Cluny
10) Musée de Cluny
The Musée de Cluny, officially known as Musée National du Moyen Âge (National Museum of the Middle Ages), is a museum in Paris, France. It is located in the 5th arrondissement at 6 Place Paul Painlevé, south of the Boulevard Saint-Germain, between the Boulevard Saint-Michel and the Rue Saint-Jacques. Among the principal holdings of the museum are the six La Dame à la Licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn) tapestries, from the late fifteenth century, often considered one of the greatest works of art of the Middle Ages in Europe. Other notable works stored there include early Medieval sculptures from the seventh and eighth centuries. There are also works of gold, ivory, antique furnishings, and illuminated manuscripts.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia and sailko
Sight description based on wikipedia
Attractions Map
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