Hitler said to Albert Speer on 28 June 1940, “Wasn’t Paris beautiful?” Beautiful, fashionable, historical, artistic and romantic — are all words that are as apt today as 72 years ago.

Paris is derived from ‘Parisii’, a 3rd century BC Gallic tribe of the area. This wonderful city was the capital of France for centuries, except for 1680 when Versailles took over for an interregnum.
I experienced many historical sites in Paris in a conducted tour. Still, my wanderlust caused me to reduce my rest-breaks to explore more. Two Sri Lankan couples too felt the same, and so we shared a couple of wonderful days in the city of love!
Our hotel was conveniently located right next to Parc-de-la-Villette Metro Station and the Science Museum. A 20-minute metro ride to the Opera and you are in the heart of Paris, one change takes you to Lafayette, Louvre and Chateaulet.
Axe Historique/Voie Triomphale (Historical Axis/Triumphal Way) is a perspective-line of monuments, buildings and thoroughfares that extends from the centre of Paris. It begins at Place de la Concorde, a public square decorated with statues and fountains (designed in 1755 as a moat-skirted octagon). King Louis XVI was executed there. It is now home to The Obelisk of Luxor (gifted by Egypt in 1833 from the ancient Luxor Temple), on a pedestal with a descriptive plaque.
Avenue des Champs-Élysées, designed in the 17th Century, runs for almost 2 km and is one of the most expensive strips of real estate in the world. Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, the 162 foot imposing, sculpted monument in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle which took 30 years to complete, was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 to celebrate France’s military victories. The names of soldiers and war depictions are engraved on the edifice. The magnificent view from the top made us feel like ‘monarchs of all we surveyed’. It also has the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, with an eternal flame commemorating those who fought in the two World Wars.
Musée du Louvre, arguably the finest art museum in the world, gets 8 million visitors annually. Opened in 1793 with 537 paintings, today it has over 35,000 in four floors in a huge horseshoe-shaped building, a stone’s throw from Concorde. Set over 60,000 square metres, it is reportedly the longest building in Europe.
Walking down the steps, I was astounded to see the huge 71 feet tall glass pyramid in an atrium that was, essentially, the reception, to collect entry tickets and a 90-minute audio tour. We were told it would take up to 10 weeks on a bicycle (which is not permitted anyway) just to move around and read the captions on each exhibit. We had four days for whole of Paris! Keen to see the enigmatic Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory and the halls of the Egyptian Pharaohs, we rushed to Room 13 in the First Floor and saw ‘Her’: a 31” by 21” painting inside a 2” thick, temperature-controlled Plexiglas case. The area is cordoned off to keep visitors 3 yards away.
Next was the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the Jewel of Gothic architecture built on the site of a Roman temple. Its stained glass windows, architecture and many sculptures mesmerised me. Wouldn’t you be surprised, as I was, to learn that it took 152 years to build from 1163, when the first stone was laid, under Pope Alexander III. It has undergone numerous refurbishments and additions.
The Eiffel Tower, on the Seine River, is our next halt. Selected out of 700 competing designs and built on the centenary of the French Revolution in 1889 — also coinciding with the World Expo, it took $1.6 million of Gustav Eiffel’s own money, over 26 months, 50 engineers, 100 iron workers and 120 other site-workers to erect the emblematic monument. On inauguration, Eiffel climbed all 1,710 steps of the 312 metre structure and planted the French flag at its peak, making it the world’s tallest building for next 40 years. Today it is 324 metres tall due to 20th century antennas. Hold your breath: the number of rivets used is 2.5 million! Its three shades of brown get repainted every 7 years. Eiffel, the scientist, experimented in his laboratory in the tower’s second level for 34 years, designing aircrafts and parachutes. The four corner-arches are only for aesthetics.
A trip to Paris is incomplete without a cabaret and a taste of its cuisine. Of the many, we chose ‘Le Paradis Latin — Cabaret Paris’, also built by Gustav Eiffel simultaneously with the Tower.
In the end, I was convinced Paris is unlike any other city on earth, with the reverberations of history and culture that seep out of its cobbled lanes and old buildings. Is Paris burning? Yes, only with a desire for more visitors!