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First Europe Trip

AMSTERDAM

Overview

Amsterdam has as many facets as a 40-carat diamond polished by one of the city's gem cutters: the capital, and spiritual "downtown," of a nation ingrained with the principles of tolerance; a veritable Babylon of old-world charm; a font for home-grown geniuses such as Rembrandt and Van Gogh; a cornucopia bursting with parrot tulips and other greener -- more potent -- blooms; and a unified social zone that takes in cozy bars, "brown" cafés, and outdoor markets. While impressive gabled houses bear witness to the Golden Age of the 17th century, their upside-down reflections in the city's canal waters below symbolize and magnify the contradictions within the broader Dutch society. With a mere 730,000 friendly souls and with almost everything a scant 10-minute bike ride away, Amsterdam is actually more of a village -- albeit a largish global one -- that happens to pack the cultural wallop of a megalopolis. A wry bit of self-criticism has Rotterdam making the money, bureaucratic Den Haag figuring out what to do with the money, and Amsterdam spending the money.
However, this kind of thinking is becoming obsolete as Amsterdam reinvents itself as the business "Gateway to Europe." Hundreds of foreign companies have flocked here to establish headquarters and take advantage of Amsterdam's central position within the European Union. One result of this windfall is that the city is hastening to upgrade its infrastructure and to create new cityscapes that will distract photographers from the ever-photogenic Red Light District. Within a few years, the Eastern Docklands -- once a bastion for squatters attracted to its abandoned warehouses -- will be transformed into a new cultural and nightlife hub, with a boardwalk planned to be as image-enhancing as Sydney's in Australia. Could this be the birth of a new golden age?

Sights & Activities
Amsterdams Historisch Museum
Amsterdam Historical Museum. Any city that began in the 13th century as a sinking bog of a fishing village to slowly evolve as a marketplace for fishermen, eventually becoming the 17th-century's powerful trading city, must have quite a fascinating story to tell, and this museum does it superbly. Housed in a rambling amalgamation of buildings, the complex had become an orphanage in 1580 after being confiscated during the Altercation (when open worship by Catholics was banned) from the St. Lucy Convent, which had existed there the previous two centuries. After the departure of the orphans and an extensive renovation, the building opened as a museum in 1975. Economic downswings, French and Nazi occupations, radical politics, and the growth of multiculturalism round out the city's engaging story to the present day. Although rich with art, models, and plain old treasures, the museum also employs a lot of state-of-the-art technologies: many will delight in the five different speaking dollhouses that tell of daily life through the centuries and a "white car" in which you can cruise the city's streets. Budding musicians can even have a go on an old church carillon in one of the building's towers.
On the ground level are the old Boys' and Girls' Courtyards, separated by a loggia. In the boys' section, now the terrace of the David & Goliath Café, the rows of wooden lockers once used by the orphans for their meager possessions are adorned with photos and accompanying biographies of some of this city's most prominent 20th-century cultural and artistic heroes. Exiting the opposite end will lead you to the other courtyard, where an immediate left will direct you to the freely accessible atrium, Schutters Gallery. This alley -- which used to be a narrow canal that separated the boy orphans from the girl orphans -- is filled with huge, historic portraits of city militias (some of their red eyes make one suspect that marijuana has always been freely available in this city). Although Rembrandt painted more than a few portraits of the city Civic Guard members, pride of place here is given to works by Dirck Barendsz and Cornelis Anthonisz, notably the latter's Meal of the 17 Guardsmen of Company H. Elsewhere, be sure to take in the grand Regents' Chamber, adorned with a magnificent 1656 ceiling painting; the many relics and religious banners dealing with the "Miracle of Amsterdam" and the great religious fervor that rocked the 14th-century city; paintings of the great Golden Age, along with 17th-century city maps and dour Burgomeister portraits; and a stirring photographic panoply that captures the triumphs and tragedies of the modern-day metropolis. http://www.ahm.nl/. COST: EUR6. OPEN: Weekdays 10-5, weekends 11-5.
Address: Kalverstraat 92 and NieuweZijde Voorburgwal 357, Amsterdam, NetherlandsPhone: 020/523-1822

Anne Frankhuis
Anne Frank House. With her diary having sold more than 30 million copies, Anne Frank is by far the most successful and famous author of the 20th century, testimony to the inspiring story of a girl who died at age 15 in a tragic denouement of the two-year saga now known to readers around the world. In the precious pages of The Diary of Anne Frank (published in 1947 as The Annex by her father after her death) the young Anne kept her sad record of two increasingly fraught years living in secret confinement from the Nazis. Along with the Van Daan family, the Frank family felt the noose tighten, so decided to move into a hidden warren of rooms at the back of this 1635-built canal house.
Anne Frank was born in Germany in 1929; when she was four her family moved to The Netherlands to escape growing anti-Jewish sentiment. Otto Frank operated a pectin business and decided to stay in his adopted country when the war finally reached The Netherlands in 1940. In July 1942, the five adults and three children sought refuge in the attic of the annex "backhouse," or achterhuis, of Otto's business in the center of Amsterdam, in a hidden warren of rooms screened behind a hinged bookcase. Here, as one of many onderduikers ("people in hiding") throughout all of Amsterdam, Anne dreamed her dreams, wrote her diary, and pinned up movie-star pictures to her wall (still on view). The van Pelsen family, including their son, Peter (van Daan in Anne's journal), along with the dentist Fritz Pfeffer (Dussel) joined them in their cramped quarters. Four trusted employees provided them with food and supplies. In her diary, Anne chronicles the day-to-day life in the house: her longing for a best friend, her crush on Peter, her frustration with her mother, her love for her father, and her annoyance with the petty dentist, Dussel. In August 1944, the Franks were betrayed and the Gestapo invaded their hideaway. All the members of the annex were transported to camps, where Anne and her sister, Margot, died of typhoid fever in Bergen Belsen a few months before the liberation. Otto Frank was the only survivor of the annex. Miep Gies, one of the friends who helped with the hiding, found Anne's diary after the raid and kept it through the war.
A recent expansion by Benthem Crouwel Architects has allowed the re-creation of Otto Frank's business in the original house and provided space for more in-depth exhibitions, a bookstore, café, and offices for the employees -- which now number 100 -- of the Anne Frank Foundation. One of the most frequently visited places in the world, this house receives more than 800,000 visitors a year; the wooden stairs behind the swinging bookcase have to be replaced every two years. Anne's diary has now been translated into more than 50 languages, making Anne the international celebrity she always dreamed of being. http://www.annefrank.nl/. COST: EUR6.50. OPEN: Sept.-Mar., daily 9-7; Apr.-Aug., daily 9-9.
Address: Prinsengracht 263, Amsterdam, NetherlandsPhone: 020/556-7100

Museum het Rembrandthuis
Rembrandt's House. One of Amsterdam's more remarkable relics, this house was bought by Rembrandt, flush with success, for his family and is where he lived and worked between 1639 and 1658. Rembrandt chose this house on what was once the main street of the Jewish Quarter because he thought he could then experience daily and firsthand the faces he would use in his Old Testament religious paintings. Later Rembrandt lost the house to bankruptcy when he fell from popularity after the death of Saskia, his wife. When he showed a quick recovery -- and an open taste for servant girls -- after her death, his uncle-in-law, once his greatest champion, became his biggest detractor. Rembrandt's downfall was sealed: he came under attack by the Amsterdam burghers, who refused to accept his liaison with his amour, Hendrickje.
A recent expansion allowed the house interior to be restored to its original form -- complete with one of Rembrandt's printing presses, his rarities collection, and fully stocked studio (which is even now occasionally used by guest artists). The new gallery wing, complete with shop, café, and information center, is the only place in the world where his graphic work is on permanent display -- with 250 of the 290 prints that are known to have come from his hand, including the magisterial Hundred Guilder and the Three Crosses prints. Rembrandt was almost more revolutionary in his prints than in his paintings, so this collection deserves respectful homage, if not downright devotion, by printmakers today. http://www.rembrandthuis.nl/. COST: EUR7. OPEN: Mon.-Sat. 10-5, Sun. 1-5.

Begijnhof
Beguine Court. Here, serenity reigns just a block from the screeching of trams stopping next to the bustling Spui square. The richly scenic Begijnhof is the tree-filled courtyard of a residential hideaway, built in the 14th century for the Begijntes, a lay Catholic sisterhood. Created as conventlike living quarters for unmarried or widowed laywomen -- of which there were many as a result of the Crusades' efficiency in killing off surplus men -- this hof, or almshouse, required them to follow three simple rules: no hens, no dogs, no men. Rent was paid in the form of caring for the sick and educating the destitute. One resident, Cornelia Arens, so loved this spot that she asked to be buried in the gutter here in 1654 -- so out of respect, don't tap-dance on the slab of red granite on the walkway on the left side of De Engelse Kerk.
This almshouse is typical of many found throughout The Netherlands. At No. 34 is the oldest house in Amsterdam and one of only two remaining wooden houses in the city center. After a series of disastrous fires, laws were passed in the 15th century forbidding the construction of buildings made entirely of timber. On the building's left side there are biblical plaques, which quote scripture and depict scenes from the holy book. The small Engelse Kerk (English Church) across from here at No. 48 dates from 1400. To this day, it's unclear why a Scottish Presbyterian church is called the English Church, although it probably has something to do with its having been presented to the Pilgrim Fathers during their brief stay in Amsterdam in 1607 (obviously, the right time: the Altercation of 1578 had seen the church confiscated from the Begijns). Much more recently, its pulpit panels were designed by a young and broke Piet Mondriaan.
Finding themselves churchless, the Beguines built the supposedly clandestine Mirakel- or Begijnhof-Kapel (Miracle- or Begijn-Chapel), across the lane at No. 29. Built by the Catholic bouwmeester (building master, as the architect-carpenters were called in those days) Philips Vingboons in 1671, it once contained the relics of the Miracle of Amsterdam. However, its stained-glass windows are still here to tell the story. COST: Free. OPEN: Mirakel- or Begijnhof-Kapel Mon. 1-6:30, Tues.-Fri. 9-6:30, weekends 9-6.
Address: Entrances on the north side of Spui and on Gedempte Begijnensloot opposite Begijnensteeg, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Het Koninklijk Paleis te Amsterdam
Royal Palace, Amsterdam. The Royal Palace is probably Amsterdam's greatest storyteller. But from the outside, it is somewhat hard to believe that this gray-stained building -- with its aura of loneliness highlighted by the fact that it is one of the city's few freestanding buildings -- was once called the "Eighth Wonder of the World" when it was built between 1648 and 1665 as the largest nonreligious building on the planet, and that it is still used by the royal family for the highest of state occasions. From the inside, its magnificent interior inspires another brand of disbelief: this palace was actually built as a mere city hall -- albeit one for a city drunk with cockiness for having created in a mere 100 years the richest and busiest harbor in the world.
The prosperous burghers of the 17th-century Golden Age, wanting something that could boast of their status to all visitors (in particular, visiting monarchs who belonged to a species that they had always done without), hired the leading architectural ego of his day, Jacob van Campen, who had traveled to Italy to study the heights of perfection represented by the classical world before the Middle Ages so rudely interrupted. With the commission for building the City Hall, he thought that he finally had the opportunity to create something perfect in its dimensions, spatial relationships, and symbolic meaning -- a veritable sermon in stone. The first problem was to create a surface on the blubbery former riverbed that was solid enough to build on. He used the standard local technique of driving wooden piles down to the solid subsurface -- a method that inspired Erasmus to comment that Amsterdammers were the only people he knew who lived on treetops. What was less standard was the sheer total, 13,659 -- a number that is still pounded permanently into the minds of every Dutch schoolchild by the formula of adding 1 to the beginning and 9 to the end of the number of days of the year.
As the building rose, various relatively trivial compromises had to be imposed, but they were sufficient for Campen to give up on the idea of perfection and to leave the rest of the job to his on-site architect, Daniel Stalpaert. Artists and sculptures with such immortal names as Ferdinand Bol, Govert Flinck (both students of Rembrandt, whose own sketches were rejected), and Jan Lievens were called in for the decorating. In the building's public entrance hall, known as the Burgerzaal, the world was placed quite literally at one's feet: two maps inlaid in the marble floor show Amsterdam as the center of the world, and the heavens painted above also present the city as the center of the universe. From here, appropriate gods were positioned to point one in the direction of the different rooms whose entranceways had further sculptures to denote their function: hungry rabid rats over the Bankruptcy Chamber, ill-fated Icarus over the Insurance Chamber, a faithful dog looking at its dead master over the Clerks Chamber, and gruesome scenes of torture over the Sentencing Tribunal. In short: this is a place that practically oozes with symbolism.
During the French occupation of The Netherlands, Louis Napoléon, who had been installed as king in 1808 by his brother Bonaparte, wanted to escape The Hague, where his son had recently died, and decided that this was the building most suitable for a royal palace. Soon the city business was moved to the Prinsenhof (now the Grand Hotel) on OudeZijde Voorburgwal, and the prisoners were transferred to the Rasphuis on Heiligeweg to make room for the royal wine cellar. To improve his view of Dam square, he transferred the function of the Waag, the Weigh House, to the one on Nieuwmarkt so that the original one could be destroyed. The ensuing renovation of the interior was actually done quite tastefully, since Campen's 17th-century classicist vision jelled nicely with that of 19th-century France. Objects were covered with tapestries or wooden panels rather than removed. The rectilinear French Empire furniture -- much of which remains to this day -- blended remarkably well with the interior's tight mathematics.
William V's triumphant entrance into the city in December 1813 marked the beginning of a long-standing debate about who actually owned the palace. Matters were not helped by the fact that Amsterdam and the House of Orange had never really gotten along. The Oranges' endless battles for their dynasty did not sit well with the city's more pragmatic attitude that war was plainly bad for business. However, the city had gotten used to being the country's capital, and when William promised to drop by more often, it was collectively decided that the building would remain a Royal Palace. But, as Geert Mak observed in his definitive book on this building, De Stadspaleis, the palace became a symbol of the royal family's absence rather than its presence, with one visitor going so far as to describe the building as a "mummie, wrapped and dried." It was only after World War II that things started to change. Although Queen Wilhelmina, returning from her exile in England with a great admiration for Amsterdam's resistance movement, preferred to live in The Hague, she did begin using the palace for the grandest of state engagements, such as the coronation of her daughter Juliana and the decolonization ceremonies for Indonesia. Renovations began to return the interior to its City Hall glory days. And, most important perhaps, the locals were allowed in to see things for themselves and admire the 17th-century works of art in their original setting. And so things pretty much continued under the current Queen Beatrix, who, however, required a few years to get over her fear of Amsterdam, understandable after her 1966 wedding was disrupted by Provos throwing smoke bombs at her wedding carriage and her 1980 coronation was derailed by riots on the Dam. http://www.kon-paleisamsterdam.nl/. COST: EUR4.50. OPEN: Oct.-Dec., Tues.-Thurs. and weekends 12:30-5; July-Sept., daily 11-5; occasionally closed for state events.
Address: Dam, Amsterdam, NetherlandsPhone: 020/620-4060

Magere Brug
Skinny Bridge. Of Amsterdam's 60-plus drawbridges, the Magere is the most famous. Whether or not this is mainly because of its name (which derives from "meager" in Dutch), the legend of its birth -- it was purportedly built by two sisters living on opposite sides of the Amstel who wanted an efficient way of sharing that grandest of Dutch traditions, the gezellig (socially cozy) midmorning coffee break -- or because it is spectacularly lighted with electric lights at night, we can't say. Have your camera ready at all hours, since the bridge is often drawn up to let boats pass by. Many replacements to the original bridge, constructed in 1672, have come and gone, and this, dating to 1969, is but the latest.
Address: Between Kerkstraat and Nieuwe Kerkstraat, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam canals at night. Walking along the canals of Amsterdam after dark is one of the simplest, cheapest, and most memorable experiences that Holland has to offer. Pedestrians (and cyclists) rule over traffic, the most beautiful gables are subtly lit up, and the pretty humpbacked bridges are festooned with lights. Alternatively, get up early and stroll out before the city is awake as the mist gently rises off the water.

Moeders Pot
"Mother's Pot" does not refer to a beer-swilling matriarch (nor to your mother's lesbian lover as the local parlance would interpret it) but rather to those local old-school home-cooking recipes that deem that each meat, potato, and vegetable should rightly have the life completely fried out of it. But don't be frightened: rarely will you find such mass amounts of staple foods costing less or an interior more charmingly kitsch-addled. And since one man does all the work here, please be sensitive to the fact that he might have to rush off to flip a steak in mid-order. If you want your local cuisine served up quickly and Cultural, head here. No credit cards. No lunch. Closed Sun.
Address: Vinkenstraat 119, Amsterdam, NetherlandsPhone: 020/623-7643

Song Kwae
Here's yet another Thai spot that seems to be usurping the kind of offerings more traditionally associated with Amsterdam's Chinatown. Perhaps influenced by their Chinese competitors, this buzzing joint offers speedy service and high-quality food for a budget price. Alongside the traditional red and green Thai curries and the stir-fry options, there are specialties such as green papaya salad with crab and potek, a searingly spicy mix of meats and fish. In the summer, the seating spills over onto the street with its views of Nieuwmarkt. They have also just opened a nearby sister restaurant Song Kwae Sukiyaki that specializes in the always socially convivial fondue. AE, DC, MC, V. Other location: Binnenbantammerstraat, PHONE: 020/422-2444; AE, DC, MC, V.
Address: Kloveniersburgwal 14, Amsterdam, NetherlandsPhone: 020/624-2568

Snacks & Quick Eats
There are no real fast-food chains in Amsterdam, other than the ubiquitous multinationals of middle-of-the-road dining such as McDonald's and Burger King that keep popping up around town (though you can check under the listings for Soup en Zo and Bagels and Beans, both nicely spaced throughout town).
Snack bars such as FEBO are the exception by serving fries (with a stunning variety of topping options) along with a stunning variety of deep-fried meat and cheese products. Although not for the grease-adverse, their kaas soufflé (cheese soufflé) is actually quite savory and tasty, and their kroketten (croquettes with a potato and meat or shrimp melange) on a bun with mustard is always a surefire hit with kids of all ages.
Most slagers (butchers) and bakkers (bakers) supplement their incomes by preparing broodjes (sandwiches) of every imaginable topping. Besides broodjes, tostis (grilled cheese and/or ham sandwiches), and appeltaart (apple pie), most local brown bars and cafés also serve a standard range of snacks that really come into their own when washed down with beer. Bitterballen ("bitter balls" -- really just more dainty versions of croquettes), kaas blokjes ("cheese blocks," which are always served with mustard), and vlammetjes ("flame-ies," which are pastry puffs filled with spicy beef and served with Thai sweet chili sauce) all work to keep your belly happy through to dinnertime.
Coffee Company is expanding quickly -- to, it is hoped, beat out the imminent arrival of Starbucks to mainland Europe and the sad development that coffee will taste the same everywhere -- and provide folks on the move with their caffeine and sugar fixes.

Nightlife & the Arts Overview
Fasten your seat belts. Amsterdam's nightlife can have you careening between smoky coffee shops, chic wine bars, mellow jazz joints, laid-back lounges and clubs. The city's nightlife centers mainly on two of its main squares. Leidseplein, rich with cafés and discos that attract younger visitors to the city, also has the city's two major live venues, Melkweg and Paradiso, around the corner.
The area around Rembrandtplein harbors the trendier nightspots and many of Amsterdam's gay venues (particularly along Reguliersdwarsstraat). Warmoestraat and other streets in the Red Light District provide the spicy setting for the more leather-oriented gay bars and throbbing rock clubs. The lounge phenomenon, while a bit late in arriving, is now in full bloom, offering a kinder, gentler club vibe. Hipsters are attracted to the venues concentrated around Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal.
Although a relatively small city, Amsterdam packs a giant cultural wallop. The local interest of a culturally inclined people supports a milieu whose spectrum ranges all the way from the austerely classical to the most outrageously avant-garde. So book that ticket fast. Amsterdam's theater and music season begins in September and runs through June, when the Holland Festival of Performing Arts is held. What's On in Amsterdam is a comprehensive English-language publication that lists art and performing-arts events around the city.

Getting Around Overview
Amsterdam is relatively small as metropolises go and you can virtually connect all the main sites in a five-hour stroll. Happily, however, Amsterdam also has a full-scale bus and tram system -- the GVB (city transport company) -- that can whisk you from sector to sector, and attraction to attraction, throughout the city. Buses and trams run frequently; schedules and routes are posted at stops. In addition, somewhat surprisingly for this water-bound and centuries-old city, Amsterdam also has a subway, referred to as the metro, with lines running southeast and southwest.
Once you understand the fanlike pattern of Amsterdam's geography, you will have an easier time getting around; most trams and buses begin and end their journeys at Centraal Station, sightseeing and shopping are focused at Dam Square and Museumplein, and the arts and nightlife are centered in the areas of Leidseplein, Rembrandtplein, and Waterlooplein. There are usually maps of Amsterdam's full transport network in individual shelters, and diagrams of routes are found on board.
Streets radiate outward from Centraal Station; in general, street numbers go up in numerical sequence as you move in a direction away from Centraal Station. Don't let common address abbreviations confuse you. BG stands for Begane Grond (ground floor); SOUT for Soutterrain (sub-level/basement apartment); HS for Huis (a ground-floor apartment or main entry). Some common geographical abbreviations are str. for straat (street); gr. for gracht (canal); and pl. for plein (square). For example: Leidsestr., Herengr., or Koningspl.

By Train
The Schiphol Rail Link (PHONE: 0900/9292) operates between the airport and the city 24 hours a day, with service to Centraal Station -- Amsterdam's central railway station -- or to stations in the south of the city. From 6:30 AM to 12:30 AM, a train departs from or arrives at Schiphol every 15 minutes; other hours, there is one train every hour. The trip takes about 15 minutes and costs EUR3. Trains leave from the platforms of Schiphol Station, found beneath Schiphol Plaza. They head into the city using one of three routes. The most popular is the NS Schiphollijn, which runs to Centraal Station (with two stops in west Amsterdam). Another route heads to the Amsterdam Zuid/WTC (South/World Trade Center) station in south Amsterdam, and another line heads to the RAI section, near the big convention center. From these south Amsterdam stations, Tram 5 goes to Leidseplein and the Museum Quarter; from RAI, Tram 4 goes to Rembrandtplein. Keep in mind that Schiphol Station is one of Holland's busiest -- make sure you catch the shuttle to Amsterdam and not a train heading to The Hague!
As always, when arriving at Amsterdam's Centraal Station, keep an eye out for any stray pickpockets.
The Netherlands has a compact network; the trains are among the most modern in Europe and are the quickest way to travel between city centers. Services are relatively frequent, with a minimum of two departures per hour for each route. The carriages are modern and clean, and although many Dutch people complain about delays, the trains usually run exactly on time.
The city has excellent rail connections with the rest of Europe. The international Benelux train links Amsterdam and Brussels up to 16 times a day. The high-speed Thalys train has six daily departures for Paris, only 4 hours away, and other destinations in the French Alps and the south of France. High-speed ICE International trains take 2 hours and 30 minutes to get from Amsterdam to Cologne via Utrecht, Arnhem, Oberhausen, Duisburg, and Dusseldorf. There are night trains between Amsterdam and Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic, and the Car-Sleeper train takes you straight to France and Italy.
To reach London from Amsterdam, you travel first to Brussels Midi station, then change to the high-speed Eurostar train for the trip through the Chunnel and on to London's Waterloo Station. Alternatively, take the London Express, a direct train connecting Amsterdam with the departing Hook of Holland-Harwich ferry service across the North Sea; on the other side, trains leave Harwich International railway station for London's Liverpool Street Station. For those arriving in Hook of Holland via the ferry from Harwich, the Amsterdam Express makes the trip in reverse.
For information in the Netherlands: NS-Nederlandse Spoorwegen/Dutch Railways (PHONE: 0900/9292 92EUR.50 per minute; door-to-door travel advice, http://www.ns.nl/).
In the U.K.: British Rail (PHONE: 0845/748-4950).
Amsterdam has several substations, but all major Dutch national, as well as European international, trains arrive at and depart from Centraal Station (PHONE: 020/627-2731). The station also houses the NS/Nederlandse Spoorwagen/Dutch Railways travel information office and its international rail office.

Metro
Amsterdam has a full-fledged subway system, the metro, but travelers will usually find trams and buses more convenient for getting around, as most metro stops are geared for city residents traveling to the outer suburbs. However, the Amsterdam metro can get you from point A to point C in a quantum leap -- for instance, from Centraal Station (at the northern harbor edge of the city) to Amstel Station (a train station at the southeastern area of the city, with connections to many buses and trams) -- much faster than a tram, which makes many stops along the way. A strippenkaart is used the same way as for other public transport.

Trams & Buses
Many tram and bus routes start from the hub at Centraal Station (Stationsplein, Amsterdam, Netherlands. PHONE: 0900-9292 public transportation information).
A large bus depot is located on the Marnixstraat, across from the main police station, and there's another one at Harlemmermeer station in the Overtoomseveld neighborhood of western Amsterdam. Trams and buses run from about 6 AM to midnight daily. The tram routes, with a network of 130 km (80 mi) of track, make this characteristic form of transport more useful than the bus for most tourists. Night owls can make use of the hourly night-bus services, with double frequency on Friday and Saturday night, but routes are restricted.
Between stops, trams brake only when absolutely necessary, so listen for warning bells if you are walking or cycling near tram lines. Taxis use tram lines, but other cars are allowed to venture onto them only when turning right. The newer fleets of buses are cleaner, and therefore nicer to use, and bus lanes (shared only with taxis) remain uncongested, ensuring that you travel more swiftly than the rest of the traffic in rush hour. If the bus is very crowded, you may have to stand, so hold on to a handrail, as the buses can travel quite fast; to avoid rush hour, don't travel between 8 and 9 in the morning or between 4:30 and 5:30 in the afternoon. As with all urban systems of transportation, keep an eye out for pickpockets.
De Opstapper
A great new public transport option is the Opstapper, a transit van that traverses the elegant Prinsengracht -- heart of the historic canal sector -- between Centraal Station and the Music Theater. For a one-zone stamp on your strippenkaart, you can get on or off anywhere along the Prinsengracht. You can hail it on the street, or get on at its starting point in front of Centraal Station. There are no fixed stops. It passes within walking distance of the Anne Frank House, the Leidseplein, and maybe even your hotel. The buses run every ten minutes from 7:30 AM to 6:30 PM. There are eight seats and room for an additional eight standing passengers.

Tickets & Strippenkaart
The same ticket can be used in buses, trams, and metros throughout Holland. Enkele Reis (single-ride tickets) are valid for one hour only and can be purchased from tram and bus drivers for EUR1.60. However, it is far more practical to buy a strippenkaart (strip ticket) that includes 2 to 45 "strips," or ticket units. The best buy for most visitors is the 15-strip ticket for EUR6.20. A 45-strip ticket costs EUR18.30. Although newer trams have ticket control booths, by tradition, Dutch trams and buses work on the honor system: upon boarding, punch your ticket at one of the machines in the rear or center section of the tram or bus. The city is divided into zones, which are indicated on the transit map, and it is important to punch the correct number of zones on your ticket (one for the basic tariff and one for each zone traveled).
The All Amsterdam Transport Pass costs EUR19 and entitles you to a day of unlimited travel on tram, bus, metro and Canal Bus plus coupons worth about EUR 133 for major attractions, snacks, etc. This pass can be purchased at the GVB ticket office in front of Centraal Station and at the main Canal Bus office at Prins Hendrikkade. The recently introduced electronic Amsterdam Culture Pass provides free and discount admissions to many of the city's top museums, plus a free canal round-trip, free use of public transport, and a 25% discount on various attractions and restaurants; savings can amount to more than EUR100. A one-day pass costs EUR26, two days costs EUR36 and three days costs EUR46. The pass comes with a booklet in Dutch, English, French, and German. It can be purchased at branches of the VVV (Netherlands Board of Tourism), the GVB (City Transport Company), both at Centraal Station, and through some hotels and museums.
Amsterdam is divided into zones, and the fare you pay depends on the number of zones you travel through. You can easily travel within one zone (two strips), but to travel across Amsterdam takes you through four (five strips) zones. These zones are displayed on transport maps. Each journey you make costs one strip plus the number of zones you travel through. When you get on a bus, you show the driver your strippenkaart and simply say where your final destination is, or the number of zones you plan to travel through, and let him or her stamp the strips.
In a metro you have to stamp your ticket yourself in the small yellow machines found near the doors, and you can often do this in a tram. Count the number of strips you need, fold your ticket at the bottom of the last strip required, and stamp the final strip in the machine. A stamp on a strip uses that, and the strips above it. This may seem confusing, but it needn't be. Always count one more "strip" than the number of zones through which you pass. If you're staying within the center city Centrum, it's always two zones, so stamp three strips. If unsure, ask a fellow passenger, the ticket controller or the driver. Two or more people can travel on the same strippenkaart, but the appropriate number of units must be stamped for each person.
The newest trams in Amsterdam (recognizable by their extra-large windows) have ticket control booths in the center of the tram. You may board the tram only there, unless you already have a valid stamp on your ticket, in which case you may board at the front and show your ticket to the driver. On older trams, you can usually board only at the rear, where you will encounter either a ticket controller (conducteur) or a stamping machine. This makes for a lot of confusion, as you need to be in the right place when the tram arrives. Follow the lead of other passengers to be sure you don't miss getting on.
The stamp indicates the zone where the journey started, and the time, and remains valid for one hour, so you can travel within the zones you have stamped until the hour is up. If you make a mistake and stamp too many strips, tell the driver and he or she will put a sticker over the incorrect stamp.
Teams of ticket inspectors occasionally make spot checks. This doesn't happen often, but if you are checked and you don't have a stamped strippenkaart, you face a EUR29.40 fine.

The Perfect Fine-Weather Day
The crystal-clear light of a summer's day in Amsterdam makes a splendid backdrop for the city's varied streetscapes and gables. Through the ages this unique brightness has inspired the creative efforts of Dutch artists and brought many more from other lands to live and work in Amsterdam. On such a day, a good starting point in the morning is the Nieuwmarkt, where you can take a terrace seat and watch Amsterdam as it slowly awakens. From here, continue to the Waterlooplein to wander around the flea market, famous for its new and second-hand clothes, ethnic jewelry and wares, and piles of bric-a-brac. If you have children in tow, then Artis zoo is close by, as well as the Joods Historisch Museum (Jewish Historical Museum). If you have less time, the Hortus Botanicus gardens and its tropical greenhouses are a lusciously verdant environment.
A short walk from the Amstel river along one of the stately canals of the grachtengordel (canal ring or girdle) will bring you to the Spiegelstraat cross-street, and to the left stands the imposing facade of the Rijksmuseum. Head under its arches to the Museumplein square, where you can promenade under the trees or bask on the lawns. Stifling weather is not the time to spend hours perusing the massive collections of the Rijksmuseum, but the smaller and more easily digested Van Gogh Museum and Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art are also ranged around the Museumplein.
If museum-hopping sounds too much like hard work, head to the Vondelpark, where locals will be lapping up the sun alongside its cooling waterways and lakes, or will be cycling and skating in shorts.
Many restaurants sprout terraces along canals and squares as soon as there is even a hint of spring, and demand for an outdoor seat is high. For dinner try the Land van Walem and its gardens -- though you'll certainly have to book in advance -- the terrace of Lorreinen under the shadow of the Noorderkerk church close to the Prinsengracht, or the waterside terrace of Het Gasthuys.
The Perfect Foul-Weather Day
With umbrellas and mackintoshes at the ready, there is no reason to have your stay in Amsterdam dampened by the weather. The maritime climate of northwestern Europe is not always clement, and gray skies and rain feature regularly in spring, autumn, and winter. A museum-filled capital like Amsterdam is ideal for filling your day with indoor activities.
Start out at the Anne Frankhuis (Anne Frank House), to discover how the Nazi occupation affected the local population, Jew and Gentile, during World War II. From here you can travel by glass-covered Museumboot or Circle Tram 20 to the Rijksmuseum, where even an exploratory tour of the myriad galleries of Dutch masterpieces and applied arts takes a couple of hours. The Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art are only a short dash across the Museumplein square. The museum cafés serve sandwiches and snacks for a lunchtime break without venturing out into the rain showers.
If you want to make for the shopping malls, there is covered shopping at the Magna Plaza and the Kalvertoren. However, if you are in this part of town, make sure to pass through the Begijnhof courtyard on the way to the adjoining Amsterdams Historisch Museum, to gain some insight into life in the city in ages past.
A potent genever (the local gin), sipped in an old-style bruine café (brown café), is a warming aperitif that will give you a flush for the evening. Traditional Dutch food is ideal for a cold winter's night, so an eetcafé (a casual restaurant/bar) is a good idea for dinner. At restaurants expensive and moderate, Amsterdam's chefs are expert in the preparation of seasonal game, and as winter closes in they create dishes that are a great antidote to a day under oppressive clouds.



BRUSSELS

Overview
Over the centuries, Brussels has been ruled by everyone from the Romans to the Spanish to the Germans, a colonial history that well prepared the city for its current occupiers-diplomats, lobbyists, and Euro-politicians who flock to the NATO and European Union headquarters here. International business has also invaded the city in the past three decades, resulting in blocks full of steel-and-glass office buildings, but these modern edifices are only a few steps from the cobbled streets, splendid cafés, and graceful Art Nouveau architecture that speak to the city's eventful past.

Sights & Activities
Cathédrale St-Michel et Ste-Gudule
The twin Gothic towers of the city's cathedral are gleaming white again after the removal of centuries of grime. One namesake, Saint Michel, is recognized as the patron saint of Brussels, but mention Saint Gudule and most people will draw a blank. Very little is known about this daughter of a 7th-century Carolingian nobleman, but her relics have been preserved here for the past 1,000 years. Construction of the cathedral began in 1226 and continued through the 15th century; chapels were added in the 16th and 17th centuries. The remains of an earlier, 11th-century Romanesque church that was on the site can be glimpsed through glass apertures set into the floor. Among the windows in the cathedral, designed by various artists, those by Bernard van Orley, a 16th-century court painter, are outstanding. The window of The Last Judgment, at the bottom of the nave, is illuminated from within in the evening. OPEN: Daily 7:30-6.
Address: Parvis Ste-Gudule, Brussels, BelgiumPhone: 02/217-8345

Grand'Place
This jewel box of a square is arguably Europe's most ornate and most theatrical. It's a vital part of the city -- everyone passes through at some point. At night the burnished facades of the guild houses and their gilded statuary look especially dramatic: from April to September, the square is floodlit after sundown with waves of changing colors, accompanied by music. Try to be here for the Ommegang, a magnificent historical pageant re-creating Emperor Charles V's reception in the city in 1549 (the first Tuesday and Thursday in July). You'll find here a daily flower market, frequent jazz and classical concerts, and in December, under the majestic Christmas tree, a life-size crèche with sheep grazing around it.
Built in ornate Baroque style soon after the 1695 bombardment, the square's guild houses have a striking architectural coherence. Among the buildings on the north side of the square, Nos. 1-2, Le Roy d'Espagne, belonged to the bakers' guild. A figure of Fame perches on its cupola. Le Sac, No. 4, commissioned by the guild of joiners and coopers, and No. 6, Le Cornet, built for the boatmen, were both designed by Antoon Pastorana, a gifted furniture maker. Le Renard, No. 7, was designed for the guild of haberdashers and peddlers; a sculpture of St. Christopher, their patron, stands on top of the gable. Le Cygne, No. 9, was formerly a butchers' guild. Today, it is an elegant restaurant, but before that it was a popular tavern often frequented by Karl Marx.
Address: Intersection of rue des Chapeliers, rue Buls, rue de la Tête d'Or, rue au Beurre, rue Chair et Pain, rue des Harengs, and rue de la Colline, Brussels, Belgium

Place du Grand Sablon
"Sand Square" is where the people of Brussels come to see and be seen. Once, as the name implies, it was nothing more than a sandy hill. Today, it is an elegant square, surrounded by numerous restaurants, cafés, and antiques shops, some in intriguing alleys and arcades. Every weekend morning a lively antiques market of more than 100 stalls takes over the upper end of the square. It's not for bargain hunters, however. Downhill from the square stands the Eglise de la Chapelle, dating from 1134. Inside, there's a memorial to Pieter Bruegel the Elder, who was married in this church and buried here a few years later. At the eastern end of the square stands the Eglise Notre-Dame du Sablon, a Flamboyant Gothic church founded in 1304 by the guild of crossbowmen (the original purpose of the square was crossbow practice) and rebuilt in the 15th century. It's one of Brussels' most beautiful churches, and at night the stained-glass windows are illuminated from within.
Address: Intersection of rue de Rollebeek, rue Lebeau, rue de la Paille, rue Ste-Anne, rue Boedenbroeck, rue des Sablons, petite rue des Minimes, rue des Minimes, and rue Joseph Stevens, Brussels, Belgium

Restaurants
Overview
Prices are for a main course at dinner, not including tax or tip.
The star-studded Brussels restaurant scene is a boon to visitors and natives alike. Some suggest that the European Commission chose Brussels for its headquarters because of the excellence of its restaurants. Although this may not be wholly true, the top Brussels restaurants rival the best Parisian restaurants; so, alas, do the prices. Most Belgians, however, value haute cuisine as a work of art and are prepared to part with a substantial sum for a special occasion.
A number of neighborhood restaurants have risen to the challenge of making dining out affordable. The choice of dishes may be more limited, and the ingredients less costly, but an animated ambience more than makes up for it. The tab is likely to be a quarter of what a dinner would cost you in one of the grand restaurants, and the uniformly high quality puts Paris to shame. The city is also richly endowed with good and mostly inexpensive Vietnamese, Italian, and Portuguese restaurants.
You can reduce the check almost by half by choosing a set menu. Fixed-price luncheon menus are often an especially good bargain. Menus and prices are always posted outside restaurants. Don't feel that you're under an obligation to eat a three-course meal; many people order just a main course. If you don't want two full restaurant meals a day, there are plenty of snack bars for a light midday meal, and most cafés serve sandwiches and light hot meals both noon and night.

Le Pain Quotidien
These bakeries-cum-snack bars are a popular brunch spot on weekend mornings. They have spread like wildfire all over Brussels (and even to New York and L.A. in the United States) with the same satisfying formula: hearty homemade soups, open-face sandwiches on farm-style bread, and bowls of café au lait, served at a communal table from 7:30 AM to 7 PM. Reservations not accepted. No credit cards. Other location: rue des Sablons 11, Upper Town, PHONE: 02/513-5154.
Address: Rue Antoine Dansaert 16, Brussels, BelgiumPhone: 02/502-2361

Aux Marches de la Chapelle
This very attractive restaurant, opposite the Eglise de la Chapelle near the Grand Sablon, offers brasserie fare of the highest quality, including traditional sauerkraut. One of the belle époque rooms is dominated by a splendid old bar, the other by an enormous open fireplace. AE, DC, MC, V. Closed Sun. and 3rd wk July-3rd wk Aug. No lunch Sat.
Address: Pl. de la Chapelle 5, Brussels, BelgiumPhone: 02/512-6891

Taverne du Passage
This Art Deco brasserie in the famous shopping arcade has been here since 1928 and remains a benchmark of its kind, serving chicken waterzooi, sauerkraut, herrings, and lobster from noon to midnight nonstop. Most fun of all, however, are the roasts, which are carved before you. The waiters are multilingual and jolly and the wine list is exceptional -- not surprising in a restaurant owned by the president of the Belgian guild of wine waiters. Reserve a table outside if you like to watch the world go by. AE, DC, MC, V. Closed Wed. and Thurs. June and July.
Address: Galerie de la Reine 30, Brussels, BelgiumPhone: 02/512-3731

Nightlife & the Arts
Overview
The arts in Brussels are thriving. Although the linguistic divisions that characterize this city drive a wedge through the cultural landscape, the advantage is that funds are injected by both Flemish- and French-language authorities eager to promote their separate contributions. A glance at the "What's On" supplement of weekly English-language newsmagazine The Bulletin reveals the breadth of the offerings in all categories of cultural life.
There's a café on virtually every street corner, most boasting a wide selection of drinks. Although the Belgian brewing industry is declining, Belgians still consume large quantities of beer, some of it with a 10% alcohol content.
If You Have 1 Day
Head for the Grand'Place to drink in the gilded splendor of its medieval buildings. Wander the narrow, cobbled lanes surrounding the square and visit the graceful, arcaded Galeries St-Hubert, an elegant 19th-century shopping gallery. Head down rue de l'Étuve to see the Manneken Pis, the statue of the little boy whom according to legend saved Brussels by urinating to extinguish a fire.
Continue by foot to the place du Grand Sablon to window-shop at its many fine antiques stores and galleries. If it's a weekend, enjoy the outdoor antiques market.
Have lunch in one of the cafés lining the perimeter, and don't forget to buy chocolates at one of the top chocolatiers on the square. Then cross over rue de la Regence to see the place du Petit Sablon before walking down the street to the Musée d'Art Moderne and the Musée d'Art Ancien to view collections ranging from the Surrealism of Belgian artist René Magritte to the delicately wrought details of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's The Fall of Icarus.
Select a restaurant on the fashionable rue Antoine Dansaert for dinner. Finally, return to the Grand'Place to cap off the evening with a drink at one of the cafés in order to see the shimmer of the golden facades under the glow of lights.
If You Have 3 Days
Kick off your stay with the exploration outlined above. On your second day, start at the Parc de Bruxelles, a formal urban park that originated as a game park. Cross the street to the elegant place Royale and the adjoining square, the place du Musée, punctuated with a Calder sculpture. Take time to visit the nearby Musée des Instruments de Musique, which houses one of Europe's finest collections of musical instruments.
Hop a tram to avenue Louise in Ixelles, one of Brussels' liveliest neighborhoods. Walk down rue Paul-Emile Janson, stopping to look at No. 6, considered one of architect Victor Horta's finest Art Nouveau works. Check out the shops on rue du Bailli, an eclectic mixture of trendy boutiques, old-fashioned bakeries and antiques shops, before continuing on to place du Chatelain for lunch.
After lunch, visit architect Horta's own house, now the Musée Horta, on rue Américaine. If you crave more art and architecture, go to the Musée David-et-Alice-Van-Buuren, a 1930s Art Deco masterpiece that also features a fine collection of Old Masters paintings, including one of three versions of Bruegel's Fall of Icarus. If you're in the mood for lighter entertainment, head towards the Gare du Midi and visit the Musée de la Gueuze to see how Lambic beer is brewed the old-fashioned way.
Enjoy a tasting at the museum, and maybe go on to a café to compare the taste to that of the commercially brewed versions. For dinner head to place Ste-Catherine for a feast of Belgian seafood specialties. Later, check out the many cafés and bars that crowd the narrow streets around the Bourse.
On Day 3, take the metro to Schuman, walk past the cluster of modern buildings that house various functions of the European Union as you head up through Parc Cinquantenaire. Visit the Autoworld museum, housing a fantastic collection of vintage cars. Head up avenue Tervuren to catch a tram to Tervuren and the Koninklijk Museum voor Midden Afrika/Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, a legacy of Belgium's role in the Congo, including objects and memorabilia from explorers. Relax in the surrounding park before heading back into town for another fine dinner.

Mussels in Brussels
Damp and cold mist the leaded-glass windows, but inside the cafe glows a scene worthy of a Flemish Master. The burnished wooden banquettes are Rembrandt's; the lace curtain, Vermeer's. Hals would have painted the diner, a lone bearded man in rumpled black leather and heavy, worn wool, his thick fingers clasping a broad-stemmed bowl of mahogany-brown beer. Before him lies a spread of crockery and mollusks, a still-life in themselves: The two-quart pot is heaped high with blue-black mussels, their shells flecked with bits of onion and celery, the broth beneath them steaming; beside them a bowl piled high with yellow frites (french fries), crisp and glistening; in the corner, a saucer of slabs of floury-gold cracked-wheat bread. The man works studiously, absorbed in a timeless ritual: Fish out the shell from the broth with fingers inured to the heat by years of practice. Pluck out the plump flesh with a fork and, while chewing the morsel, chuck the shell aside on a crockery plate. Sometimes he sets down the fork and uses the empty shell as pincers to draw out the meat of the next shell. As the meal progresses, the pile in the pot shrinks and the heap of empty shells grows. As the beer follows the mussels, its strong tonic paints the man's cheeks until two ruby patches radiate above his beard. The painting's caption: "Man eating moules."
It is the central image of the Flemish lowlands -- the Netherlands, Flanders, even leaking into landlocked Wallonie and Luxembourg.
But this warmly lit interior scene wouldn't be as striking without its harsh exterior foil: Mussels, like the Dutch and the Flemish, are creatures of the sea; they flourish in cold, inky waters along rock-crusted shores, clustered and stacked like blue-black crystals in muddy tidal pools. They're a product of caustic sea winds and briny, chilly damp, and their bite tastes like salt air itself.
Most of the mussels consumed in the Benelux region come from the North Sea, above all in the Waddenzee, off the northern coast of the Netherlands. Captured by the billions in great nets along the bottom of specially protected, fenced-off nursery beds, they are sorted by weight and auctioned to wholesalers in Zeeland, who return them to shallow tidal waters to recover from the trip, to mature, and to purge themselves of sandy mud. From there, they are harvested en masse and shipped live across Europe.
The cultivation of mussels dates from Roman times, though legend credits an Irish shipwreck victim who settled in La Rochelle, on the west coast of France; he is said to have noticed great colonies of the mollusks clinging to posts he planted to hold fishing nets. By placing posts closer together and arranging branches between them, he was able to create an ideal breeding ground and, in essence, mass-produce the delicacy. (The French, predictably enough, prefer their own, smaller mussels from the coasts of Brittany and Normandy, insisting that North Sea mussels are fleshy, dull, and vulgarly oversized.)
Scrubbed with stiff brushes under running water, soaked with salt to draw out the sand, and often fed flour to plump and purge them, mussels are served throughout the region in dozens of ways. The building block for French or Walloon recipes: simmering them à la marinière, in a savory stock of white wine, shallots, parsley, and butter. It's difficult to improve on this classic method, which brings out the best in mussels' musky sea essence -- but chefs have been trying for centuries. Another common version is à la crème, the marinière stock thickened with flour-based white sauce and a generous portion of heavy cream. Flemish mussels, on the other hand, are nearly always served in a simple, savory vegetable stock, with bits of celery, leek, and onions creeping into the shells. The Dutch have been known to pickle them, or even to fry them in batter. Those who don't want to get their fingers messy may order their mussels meunière, removed from the shells in the kitchen and baked in a pool of garlicky butter. Regardless of the preparation, the Belgians and the Dutch wash their mussels down with beer, the Luxembourgers with an icy bottle of one of the coarser Moselle wines -- an Elbling or a Rivaner.
Mussels rations are anything but stingy here, and on your first venture you may be appalled by the size of the lidded pot put before you. It's the shells that create the volume, and once you've plucked out the tender flesh, thrown away the shells, and sipped the broth and succulent strays from a colossal soup spoon, you'll soon find yourself at the bottom of the pot. Don't worry: Many restaurants will whisk it away and come back with Round Two -- another mountain of the steamy blue creatures, another pool of savory broth. It's called moules à volonté (all you can eat), so gird yourself for a feast: The locals have been doing it for 2,000 years.



PARIS

Overview
Paris intrigues, astonishes, provokes, overwhelms, and ultimately gets under your skin. The City of Light is the apex of architectural beauty, artistic expression, and culinary delight, and it knows it. As drop-dead arrogant as the Arc de Triomphe, as disarmingly quaint as a lace-curtain bistro, it seduces newcomers with a Latin-lover style -- and its subtle siren song invites unhurried exploration.
Paris is a city of vast, noble perspectives and intimate, ramshackle streets, of formal espaces verts (green open spaces) and of quiet squares. This combination of the pompous and the private is one of the secrets of its perennial pull. Another is its size. Paris is relatively small as capitals go, with distances between many of its major sights and museums invariably walkable.
For the first-timer there will always be several must-dos at the top of the list, but a visit to Paris will never be quite as simple as a quick look at Notre-Dame, the Louvre, and the Eiffel Tower. You'll discover that around every corner, down every ruelle (little street) lies a resonance-in-wait.
You can stand on the rue du Faubourg St-Honoré at the very spot Edmond Rostand set Ragueneau's pastry shop in Cyrano de Bergerac. You can read the letters of Madame de Sévigné in her actual hôtel particulier, or private mansion, now the Musée Carnavalet. You can breathe in the fumes of hubris before the extravagant onyx tomb Napoléon designed for himself. You can gaze through the gates at the school where Voltaire honed his wit and lay a garland on Oscar Wilde's grave at Père Lachaise.
If this is your first trip, there's no harm in taking a guided tour of the city -- a perfectly good introduction that will help you get your bearings and provide you with a general impression before you return to explore at leisure the sights that particularly interest you. By the time you have explored the city, you should not only have had your cultural fill but be downright exhausted and hungry, too.

Sights & Activities
Arc de Triomphe
Inspired by Rome's Arch of Titus, this colossal, 164-foot triumphal arch was planned by Napoléon -- who liked to consider himself the heir to the Roman emperors -- to celebrate his military successes. Unfortunately, Napoléon's strategic and architectural visions were not entirely on the same plane, and the Arc de Triomphe proved something of an embarrassment. Although the emperor wanted the monument completed in time for an 1810 parade in honor of his new bride, Marie-Louise, the arch was still only a few feet high, and a dummy arch of painted canvas was strung up to save face.
Empires come and go, and Napoléon's had been gone for more than 20 years before the Arc de Triomphe was finally finished, in 1836. It has some magnificent sculpture by François Rude, such as The Departure of the Volunteers, better known as La Marseillaise, to the right of the arch when viewed from the Champs-Élysées. Names of Napoléon's generals are inscribed on the stone facades -- those underlined are the hallowed figures who fell on the fields of battle. After showing alarming signs of decay, the structure received a thorough overhaul in 1989 and is once again neo-Napoleonic in its splendor. There is a small museum halfway up the arch devoted to its history. France's Unknown Soldier is buried beneath the archway; the flame is rekindled every evening at 6:30, which is the most atmospheric time to visit. To beat the crowds, come early in the morning. http://www.monum.fr/. COST: EUR7. OPEN: Apr.-Sept., daily 10 AM-11 PM; Oct.-Mar., daily 10 AM-10:30 PM. Métro: Métro or RER: Étoile.
Address: Pl. Charles-de-Gaulle, Paris, FrancePhone: 01-55-37-73-77

Louvre
This is the world's greatest art museum, and certainly one of the largest. The extraordinary collections are divided into Asian antiquities, Egyptian antiquities, Greek and Roman antiquities, sculpture, objets d'art, paintings, and prints and drawings. The quality and the sheer variety are overwhelming. The number one attraction is Leonardo's enigmatic Mona Lisa (La Joconde to the French). A highlight of the ancient Greek collection is the legendary Venus de Milo, from the 2nd century BC. Try to make repeat visits -- the Louvre is about one-third cheaper on Sunday (free the first Sunday of each month) and after 3 PM on other days. Study the plans at the entrance to get your bearings and pick up a map to take with you. It's faster to enter through the Carrousel du Louvre mall on rue de Rivoli than through the pyramid. Hours of operation change frequently, so make sure to call ahead or check the web site before visiting. http://www.louvre.fr/. COST: EUR10, EUR8 after 3 PM and all day Sun., free 1st Sun. of month, EUR5 for Napoléon Hall exhibitions. OPEN: Thurs.-Sun. 9-6, Mon. and Wed. 9 AM-6 PM. Closed Tuesday. Hours change frequently -- check in advance. Métro: Palais-Royal.
Address: Palais du Louvre (it's faster to enter through the Carrousel du Louvre mall on rue de Rivoli than through the pyramid), Paris, FrancePhone: 01-40-20-51-51 information

Notre-Dame
Looming above place du Parvis on the Ile de la Cité is the Cathédrale de Notre-Dame, the most enduring symbol of Paris. Begun in 1163, completed in 1345, badly damaged during the Revolution, and restored by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century, Notre-Dame may not be France's oldest or largest cathedral, but in beauty and architectural harmony it has few peers -- as you can see by studying the facade from the open square. The doorways seem like hands joined in prayer, the sculpted kings form a noble procession, and the rose windows gleam with what seems like divine light. Above, the gallery breaks the lines of the stone vaults, and between the two high towers the spire soars above the transept crossing. Seen from the front, the cathedral gives an impression of strength, dignity, and majestic serenity; seen from the Pont de l'Archevêché, it has all the proud grace of a seagoing vessel, the cross on its steeple borne like the flag on a tall mast.
The cathedral was conceived by Bishop de Sully, who claimed he had seen the building in a vision. More pragmatically, Sully needed a cathedral in Paris so that he could compete with Abbot Suger's phenomenal cathedral in St-Denis, just north of the city. An army of stonemasons, carpenters, and sculptors came to work and live on the site, which had already seen a Roman temple, an early Christian basilica, and a Romanesque church. The chancel and altar were consecrated in 1182, but the magnificent sculptures surrounding the main doors were not put into position until 1240. The north tower was finished 10 years later. If both towers seem to some a bit top-heavy, that's because two needlelike spires were originally conceived to top them but were never built. The tower on the left is a tiny bit wider than the one on the right.
Despite various changes in the 17th century, the cathedral remained substantially unaltered until the French Revolution, when it was transformed into a Temple of Reason -- busts of Voltaire and Rousseau replaced those of saints. The statues of the kings of Israel were hacked down by the mob because they were thought to represent the despised royal line of France. An interesting postscript to this destruction occurred in 1977, when some of the heads of these statues were discovered buried beneath a bank on boulevard Haussmann. An ardent royalist had once owned that land; he salvaged the broken heads and buried them in his garden. The heads are now displayed in the Musée National du Moyen-Age.
By the early 19th century the excesses of the Revolution were over, but the reconsecrated cathedral was in dreadful condition. Napoléon crowned himself emperor here, seizing the crown from the pope and placing it on his own head in December 1804. (See David's epic painting of the lavish ceremony in the Louvre.) It was only after the publication of Victor Hugo's immensely popular novel featuring the hunchback Quasimodo that Parisians took notice of the cathedral's shabby condition. Architect Viollet-le-Duc began a renovation project that lasted through much of the 19th century. The spire is his invention; at the same time, Haussmann demolished the warren of little buildings in front of the cathedral, creating place du Parvis.
The facade divides neatly into three levels. On the first-floor level are the three main entrances: the Portal of the Virgin, on the left; the Portal of the Last Judgment, in the center; and the Portal of St. Anne (the oldest of the three), on the right. All are surmounted by magnificent carvings -- most of them 19th-century copies of the originals -- of figures, foliage, and biblical scenes. Above these are the restored statues of the kings of Israel, the Galerie des Rois. Above the gallery is the great rose window, and above that, the Galerie, at the base of the towers. The south tower houses the bell of Notre-Dame, as tolled by Quasimodo. Take a cue from Victor Hugo and climb all the way up the 387 steps of the tower (through the separate entrance, which is to the left of the facade as you face it). You'll be rewarded with the classic view of Paris, unforgettably framed by stone gargoyles designed by Viollet-le-Duc. To the north is Montmartre; to the west, the Arc de Triomphe, at the head of the Champs-Élysées; to the south, the towers of St-Sulpice and the Panthéon.
As you enter the nave, the faith of the early builders permeates all. The quiet, persuasive interior contrasts gracefully with the triumphant glory of the exterior, with the soft glow of the stained-glass windows replacing the statues of saints, virgins, prophets, and apostles. The best time to visit is early in the morning, when the cathedral is at its brightest and least crowded. At the entrance are the massive 12th-century columns supporting the twin towers. Look down the nave to the transepts -- the arms of the church -- where, at the south (right) entrance to the chancel, you'll glimpse the haunting 12th-century statue of Notre-Dame de Paris, Our Lady of Paris. The chancel itself owes parts of its decoration to a vow taken by Louis XIII in 1638. Still without an heir after 23 years of marriage, he promised to dedicate the entire country to the Virgin Mary if his queen produced a son. When this apparently miraculous event came to pass, Louis set about redecorating the chancel and choir. On the south side of the chancel is the Trésor (treasury), with a collection of garments, reliquaries, and silver- and gold plate.
Under the square in front of the cathedral is the Crypte Archéologique, Notre-Dame's archaeological museum. It contains remains of previous churches on the site, scale models charting the district's development, and relics and artifacts dating from the Parisii, who lived here 2,000 years ago, unearthed during excavations in the 1960s. The foundations of the 3rd-century Gallo-Roman rampart and of the 6th-century Merovingian church can also be seen.
If your interest in the cathedral is not yet sated, duck into the Musée de Notre-Dame (10 rue du Cloître-Notre-Dame), across the street opposite the north door. The museum's paintings, engravings, medallions, and other objects and documents chart the history of the cathedral. http://www.monum.fr/. COST: Cathedral free, towers EUR7, crypt EUR3.30, treasury EUR2.50, museum EUR2.50. OPEN: Cathedral daily 8-7. Towers Apr.-June and Sept., daily 9:30-7:30; July-Aug., weekdays 9-7:30, weekends 9 AM-11 PM; Oct.-Mar., daily 10-5:30. Treasury Mon.-Sat. 9:30-11:30 and 1-5:30. Crypt Tues.-Sun. 10-6. Museum Wed. and weekends 2:30-6. Métro: Cité.
Address: Pl. du Parvis, Paris, FrancePhone: 01-53-10-07-00

Sainte-Chapelle
This fragile Gothic jewel is home to the most ancient stained-glass windows in Paris. Built by the obsessively pious Louis IX (1226-70), this chapel was constructed in less than three years to house the king's collection of relics acquired from the impoverished emperor of Constantinople at phenomenal expense (and that even in Louis's time were considered of questionable authenticity). Some of these relics have survived and can be seen in the treasury of Notre-Dame, but most were lost during the Revolution.
The building is actually two chapels in one. The plainer first-floor chapel, made gloomy by insensitive mid-19th-century restorations (which could do with restoration themselves), is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, whose statue stands on the pier of the entrance. Today you might be startled to see a souvenir stand taking up most of the space. Up a dark spiral staircase you'll find the king's chapel, which he accessed through the main upstairs door, directly across from his royal bedroom.
Here the famous beauty of Sainte-Chapelle comes alive: instead of walls, all you see are 6,458 square feet of stained glass, delicately supported by painted stonework that seems to disappear in the colorful light streaming through the windows. Deep reds and blues dominate the background glass here, noticeably different from later, lighter medieval styles such as those in Notre-Dame's rose window. The chapel is essentially an enormous magic lantern illuminating the 1,130 figures from the Bible, to create -- as one writer poetically put it -- "the most marvelous colored and moving air ever held within four walls." http://www.monum.fr/. COST: EUR6.10, joint ticket with Conciergerie EUR10.40. OPEN: Daily 9:30-6, last entry at 5:30 Mar.-Oct., 4:30 Nov.-Feb. Métro: Cité.
Address: 4 bd. du Palais, 1er, Paris, FrancePhone: 01-42-77-65-65

Tour Eiffel
Eiffel Tower. If the Statue of Liberty is New York, if Big Ben is London, if the Kremlin is Moscow, then the Eiffel Tower is Paris. For two years French engineer Gustave Eiffel -- already famous for building viaducts and bridges -- worked to erect this monument, which was designed to exalt the technical era that had begun to shine in the lamp of Edison and to stammer in the first telephone of Bell. It was created for the World Exhibition of 1889, inaugurated by Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, and was still in good shape to celebrate its 100th birthday in 1989. Such was Eiffel's engineering wizardry that even in the strongest winds his tower never sways more than 4½ inches.
Because its colossal bulk exudes a feeling of mighty permanence, you may have trouble believing that it nearly became 7,000 tons of scrap iron when its concession expired in 1909. At first many Parisians hated the structure, agreeing with designer William Morris, who said, "Why on earth have I come here? Because it's the only place I can't see it from." Only its potential use as a radio antenna saved the day (it still bristles with a forest of radio and television transmitters). By the time of the German occupation, however, Paris trembled when it was suggested that the 12,000 pieces of metal and its 2,500,000 rivets should be "requisitioned." Today the Tour is most breathtaking at night, when every girder is highlighted in a sparkling display originally conceived to celebrate the turn of the millennium.
The glittering light show was so popular that the 20,000 lights were reinstalled for permanent use in 2003; the Tour does its electric shimmy for 10 minutes every hour on the hour until 1 AM in winter and 2 AM in summer. You can stride up the stairs as far as the third floor, but if you want to go to the top you'll have to take the elevator. The view at 1,000 feet may not beat that from the Tour Montparnasse skyscraper, but the setting makes it considerably more romantic, especially if you come in the late evening, after the crowds have dispersed. http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/. COST: By elevator: 2nd fl. EUR4.10, 3rd fl. EUR7.50, 4th fl. EUR10.70. Climbing: 2nd and 3rd fl. only, EUR3.80. OPEN: June-late Aug., daily 9 AM-midnight; late Aug.-May, daily 9 AM-11 PM, stairs close at dusk in winter. Métro: Bir-Hakeim; RER: Champ de Mars.
Address: Quai Branly, Paris, FrancePhone: 01-44-11-23-23

Sacré-Coeur
The white domes of the Sacred Heart basilica patrol the Paris skyline from the top of Montmartre. The French government decided to erect Sacré-Coeur in 1873 as a sort of national guilt offering in expiation for the blood shed during the Commune and the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71. It was meant to symbolize the return of self-confidence to late-19th-century Paris. Even so, the building was to some extent a reflection of political divisions within the country: it was largely financed by French Catholics fearful of an anticlerical backlash and determined to make a grandiloquent statement on behalf of the Church. Construction lasted until World War I; the basilica was not consecrated until 1919. In style the Sacré-Coeur borrows elements from Romanesque and Byzantine architecture. Built on a grand scale, the church is strangely disjointed and unsettling; architect Paul Abadie (who died in 1884, long before the church was finished) had made his name by sticking similar scaly, pointed domes onto the medieval cathedrals of Angoulême and Périgueux in southwest France. Golden mosaics glow in the dim, echoing interior; climb to the top of the dome for the view of Paris. On clear days you can also catch grand vistas of the city from the entrance terrace and steps. This area, though, is perennially crammed with bus groups, young lovers, postcard sellers, guitar-wielding Christians, and sticky-finger types; be extra cautious with your valuables. COST: Free; dome EUR4.50. OPEN: Basilica daily 6:45 AM-11 PM; dome and crypt Oct.-Mar., daily 9-6; Apr.-Sept., daily 10-5. Métro: Anvers plus funicular.
Address: Pl. du Parvis-du-Sacré-Coeur, Paris, FrancePhone: 01-53-41-89-00

Restaurants
Overview
Prices are per person for a main course at dinner, including tax (19.6%) and service; note that if a restaurant offers only prix-fixe (set-price) meals, it has been given the price category that reflects the full prix-fixe price.
Generally, restaurants are open from noon to about 2 and from 7:30 or 8 to 10 or 10:30. It's best to make reservations, particularly in summer, although the reviews only state when reservations are absolutely essential. If you want no-smoking seating, make this clear; the mandatory no-smoking area is sometimes limited to a very few tables. Brasseries have longer hours and often serve all day and late into the evening; some are open 24 hours.
Assume a restaurant is open every day, unless otherwise indicated. Surprisingly, many prestigious restaurants close on Saturday as well as Sunday. July and August are the most common months for annual closings, although Paris in August is no longer the wasteland it once was. Places where a jacket and tie are de rigueur are noted. Otherwise, use common sense -- jeans and T-shirts are not suitable in Paris restaurants, nor are shorts or running clothes, except in the most casual bistros and cafés.

Dong Huong
Dong Huong isn't a secret, but you wouldn't find it by accident: these two undecorated dining rooms in a Belleville side street are where the local Chinese and Vietnamese come for a reassuring bowl of pho (soup) or a big plate of grilled lemongrass-scented meat with rice. Non-Asians will be instantly directed to the smoking room (on the assumption that they are French), so make it clear if you prefer a no-smoking area. Spicy, peanutty saté soup is a favorite, and at this price (EUR6.50) you can also spring for a plate of crunchy imperial rolls, to be wrapped in lettuce and mint. Try one of the lurid nonalcoholic drinks, too. MC, V. Closed Tues. and 2 wks in Aug. Métro: Belleville.
Address: 14 rue Louis-Bonnet, Paris, FrancePhone: 01-43-57-18-88

Getting Around
Overview
Addresses in Paris are fairly straightforward: there is the number, the street name and, often, the location in one of Paris's 20 arrondissements (districts); for instance, Paris 75010 or, simply, the last two digits, 10, each of which indicates that the address is in the 10th. Due to its large size, the 16 arrondissement has two numbers assigned to it: 75016 and 75116. For the layout of Paris's arrondissements, consult the map at the end of this section. They are laid out in a spiral, beginning from the area around the Louvre (1 arrondissement), then moving clockwise through the Marais, the Quartier Latin, St-Germain, and then out from the city center to the outskirts until it reaches Menilmontant/Père-Lachaise (20 arrondissement).
Occasionally you may see an address with a number plus bis -- for instance, 20 bis rue Vavin. This indicates the next entrance or door down from 20 rue Vavin.
Note that in France you enter a building on the ground floor, or rez-de-chaussée (RC or 0), and go up one floor to the first floor, or premier étage. General address terms used in this book to keep in mind are: av. (abbreviation for avenue); bd. (abbreviation for boulevard); carrefour (crossway); cours (promenade); passage (passageway); quai (quay/wharf/pier); rue (street); sq. (abbreviation for square).
Métro
Métro stations are recognizable either by a large yellow M within a circle or by the distinctive curly green Art Nouveau railings and archway bearing the full title (Métropolitain). Taking the métro is the most efficient way to get around Paris.
Fourteen métro and two RER (Réseau Express Régional, or the Regional Express Network) lines crisscross Paris and the suburbs, and you are seldom more than 500 yards from the nearest station. The métro network connects at several points in Paris with the RER, the commuter trains that go from the city center to the suburbs. RER trains crossing Paris on their way from suburb to suburb can be great time-savers because they make only a few stops in the city (you can use the same tickets for the métro and the RER within Paris).
It's essential to know the name of the last station on the line you take, as this name appears on all signs. A connection (you can make as many as you like on one ticket) is called a correspondance. At junction stations, illuminated orange signs bearing the name of the line terminus appear over the correct corridors for each correspondance. Illuminated blue signs marked sortie indicate the station exit. Note that tickets are valid only inside the gates, or limites.
Métro service starts at 5:30 AM and continues until 1 AM, when the last train on each line reaches its terminus. Some lines and stations in Paris are a bit risky at night, in particular Lines 2 and 13. But in general, the métro is relatively safe throughout, providing you don't walk around with your wallet hanging out of your back pocket or travel alone late at night.
Fares & Schedules
All métro tickets and passes are valid not only for the métro but also for all RER and bus travel within Paris. Métro tickets cost EUR1.30 each; a carnet (10 tickets for EUR9.30) is a better value. The best deal is the unlimited usage carte orange ticket, sold according to zone. Zones 1 and 2 cover the entire métro network; tickets cost EUR13.25 a week or EUR44.35 a month. If you plan to take suburban trains to visit places in Ile-de-France, consider a four-zone (Versailles, St-Germain-en-Laye; EUR21.65 a week) or six-zone (Rambouillet, Fontainebleau; EUR28.10 a week) ticket. For these weekly/monthly tickets, you need a pass (available from rail and major métro stations) and a passport-size photograph (many stations have photo booths).
A one-day (Mobilis) and the two- to five-day (Paris-Visite) tickets assure unlimited travel on the entire RATP network: métro, RER, bus, tram, funicular (Montmartre), and noctambus (night bus). Unlike the coupon jaune, which is good from Monday morning to Sunday evening, Mobilis and Paris-Visite passes are valid starting any day of the week and give you discounts on a limited number of museums and tourist attractions. The price is EUR8.38 (one-day), EUR13.70 (two-day), EUR18.30 (three-day), and EUR26.70 (five-day) for Paris only. Rates for children ages 4-11 are approximately half of these prices. Suburbs such as Versailles and St-Germain-en-Laye cost EUR23.60 (one-day). EuroDisney costs EUR23.60, EUR34.30, EUR42.70, and EUR53.35 respectively for a one- to four-day pass.
Access to métro and RER platforms is through an automatic ticket barrier. Slide your ticket in and pick it up as it pops out. Be certain to keep your ticket during your journey; you'll need it to leave the RER system and in case you run into any green-clad ticket inspectors, who will impose a hefty fine if you can't produce your ticket.
For additional métro information, contact RATP (Pl. de la Madeleine, 8, Paris, France. http://www.ratp.fr/, 53 bis quai des Grands-Augustins, 6, PHONE: 08-36-68-41-14), open daily 9-5.

When to Go to Paris
The major tourist season in France stretches from Easter to mid-September, but Paris has much to offer in every season. Paris in the early spring can be disappointingly damp, though it's relatively tourist free; May and June are delightful, with good weather and plenty of cultural attractions. July and August can be sultry. Moreover, many theaters and some of the smaller restaurants and shops close for the entire month of August. If you're undeterred by hot weather and pollution, you'll notice a fairly relaxed atmosphere around the city, as this is the month when most Parisians are on vacation. September is ideal. Cultural life revives after the summer break, and sunny weather often continues through the first half of October. The ballet and theater are in full swing in November, but the weather is part wet and cold, part bright and sunny. December is dominated by the fêtes de fin d'année (end-of-year festivities), and a busy theater, ballet, and opera season goes well into January.

Paris Cafes
Along with air, water, and wine, the café remains one of the basic necessities of life in Paris. Though they continue to close in the face of changing work and eating habits, cafés can still be found on almost every corner. Until recently, the overall style of neighborhood cafés and PMUs (where you can bet on horses) dated from the '60s and '70s -- but now, especially around the Bastille, many have shrewdly updated their light fixtures and banquettes, turned up the music a notch or two, and hiked up their prices.
The more modest establishments (look for nonchalant locals) will give you a cheaper cup of coffee and a feeling of what real French café life is like. Cafés are required to post a tarif des consommations, a list that includes prices for the basics ranging from café (espresso) to vin rouge (red wine) and list two prices, au comptoir (at the counter) and à terrasse or à salle (seated at a table).
If you just need a quick cup of coffee, have it at the counter and save yourself money. If you have a rendezvous, take a table: remember that you're paying rent on that little piece of wood, and hang out as long as you like. If you're looking for a slice of intellectual café life, head to the Café de Flore on Monday night for play readings and the first Wednesday of each month for philosophy debates, both held in English.

A Priori Thé.
Stop in for a comforting tea and a crunchy fruit crumble at this cozy American-run spot -- perfect for a rainy day -- after browsing through the lovely Galerie Vivienne shopping arcade. 35-37 Galerie Vivienne, at 66 rue Vivienne, Louvre/Tuileries, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-42-97-48-75. Métro: Bourse.

Au Père Tranquille.
In a neighborhood swarming with all sorts -- tourists, Parisian teens, street musicians -- this is a particularly prime spot for people-watching. 16 rue Pierre Lescot, Beaubourg/Les Halles, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-45-08-00-34. Métro: Les Halles.

Au Sauvignon.
Edge your way in among the lively tipplers in this homey spot with an ideally placed terrace. Pair your verre with a tartine (open-face sandwich). 80 rue des Sts-Pères, 7, St-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-45-48-49-02. Métro: Sèvres Babylone.

Be
(73 bd. de Courcelles, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-46-22-20-20) : Star chef Alain Ducasse and wizard baker Eric Kayser make sandwiches a luxury item; snag one of the handful of tables and choose from condiments hand-selected by the great chef.

Brasserie Lipp.
This brasserie, with its turn-of-the-20th-century decor, was a favorite spot of Hemingway's; today television celebrities, journalists, and politicians come here for coffee on the small glassed-in terrace off the main restaurant. 151 bd. St-Germain, St-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-45-48-53-91. Métro: St-Germain-des-Prés.

Café Beaubourg.
Near the Centre Pompidou, this slick modern café designed by architect Christian de Portzamparc is one of the trendiest rendezvous spots for fashion and art types. Omelets and decent salads are served if you've missed lunch or want a light dinner. 43 rue St-Merri, Beaubourg/Les Halles, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-48-87-63-96. Métro: Hôtel de Ville.

Café Marly.
Run by the Costes brothers, this café overlooking the main courtyard of the Louvre and I. M. Pei's glass pyramid is one of chicest places in Paris to meet for a drink or a coffee. Note that the regular café service shuts down during meal hours, when overpriced mediocre food is served. Cour Napoléon du Louvre (enter from Louvre courtyard), 93 rue de Rivoli, Louvre/Tuileries, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-49-26-06-60. Métro: Palais-Royal.

Café de la Musique.
This vast postmodern café is next to the Cité de la Musique in the Parc de La Villette. In the evening it's primarily filled with people attending concerts, but the free jazz on Wednesday night and the interesting crowd make it worth the trip. 214 av. Jean-Jaurès, La Villette, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-48-03-15-91. Métro: Porte de Pantin.

Café de la Place.
This café is a charming wood-paneled spot that is perfect for watching the activity inside and out. 23 rue d'Odessa, Montparnasse, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-42-18-01-55. Métro: Montparnasse.

Café du Dôme.
Now a fancy brasserie -- though you can still just have a cup of coffee or a drink here -- this place began as a dingy meeting place for exiled artists and intellectuals such as Lenin, Picasso, and Chaim Soutine. 108 bd. Montparnasse, Montparnasse, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-43-35-25-81. Métro: Vavin.
Christian Constant (37 rue d'Assas, 6, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-53-63-15-15, Métro: Rennes) uses chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa butter in his pastries, resulting in an incredibly intense chocolate fix.

Rive Gauche pâtissiers have particularly devoted fans of their macarons. The flavors at Gérard Mulot (Mabillon, 76 rue de Seine, 6, St-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-43-26-85-77) include pistachio, caramel, and a terrific orange-cinnamon.
Some star-studded chefs defer to Jean-Luc Poujauran (20 rue Jean-Nicot, 7, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-47-05-80-88, Métro: La Tour-Maubourg), whose homey shop has an antique stained-glass ceiling. Pick up a foie gras galette for a sensational lunch on the run.
Another traditional pastry is the mont-blanc, a miniature mountain of chestnut purée capped with whipped cream, best rendered by Jean-Paul Hévin (3 rue Vavin, 6, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-43-54-09-85, Métro: Vavin).

L'Etoile Manquante.
Owned by Xavier Denamur, who runs several stylish cafés in this street, the Missing Star is a great spot for people-watching, but the real attraction is the rest rooms: an electric train is just one of the surprises in store. 34 rue Vieille-du-Temple, Le Marais, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-42-72-48-34. Métro: Hôtel de Ville, St-Paul.

La Charlotte en I'lle.
The witch who baked gingerbread children in Hansel and Gretel might take a fancy to this place -- set with fairy lights, carnival masques, and decoupaged detritus, it's a tiny storybook spot that offers more than 30 varieties of tea along with a sinfully good hot chocolate. 24 rue St-Louis-en-l'Ile, Île St-Louis, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-43-54-25-83. Métro: Pont Marie.

La Palette.
In good weather the terrace is as popular with local art students and gallery owners as it is with tourists. On a rainy afternoon the interior, too, is cozy -- it's decorated with works of art by its habitués. 43 rue de Seine, St-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-43-26-68-15. Métro: Odéon.
La Rotonde. The café, a second home to foreign artists and political exiles in the 1920s and '30s, has a less exotic clientele today. But it's still a pleasant place to have a coffee on the sunny terrace. 105 bd. Montparnasse, Montparnasse, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-43-26-68-84. Métro: Montparnasse.

Le Paris.
This buzzy little café with a cool crowd and decor is a sign that this famous avenue is coming back into fashion. Service can be chilly, but it's worth putting up with for the interesting crowd and good light food. 93 av. des Champs-Élysées, Champs-Élysées, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-47-23-54-37. Métro: George V.

Le Ruc Univers.
Actors from the Comédie Française and attitudinous hipsters hang out at this sleekly modern café near the Louvre. 1 pl. André-Malraux, Louvre/Tuileries, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-42-60-31-57. Métro: Palais-Royal.

Le Sancerre.
Sit on the terrace sipping a coffee or a beer and watch the ebb and flow of artists, hipsters, and tourists and guess how many people are on an Amélie quest. 35 rue des Abbesses, Montmartre, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-45-58-08-20. Métro: Abbesses.

Le Sélect.
Isadora Duncan and Hart Crane used to hang out here; now it's a popular spot for a post-cinema beer. 99 bd. Montparnasse, Montparnasse, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-45-48-38-24. Métro: Vavin.

Ma Bourgogne.
On the exquisite place des Vosges, this is a calm oasis for a coffee or a light lunch away from the noisy streets. The specialty is steak tartare. 19 pl. des Vosges, Le Marais, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-42-78-44-64. Métro: St-Paul.

Mariage Frères.
This 19th-century tea purveyor runs its own salons, each stocked with hundreds of kinds of tea. Peruse the menu for all kinds of brews -- black tea, green tea, white tea, smoked, iced, herbal, and evocatively named (Marco Polo, Casablanca). Tea finds its way into the pastries too. 30 rue du Bourg-Tibourg, Le Marais, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-42-72-28-11. Métro: Hôtel de Ville.

Petit Fer à Cheval.
Great coffee is served in the perfect setting for watching the fashionable Marais locals saunter by; food such as a leathery bavette (beef skirt steak), however, leaves something to be desired. 30 rue Vieille-du-Temple, Le Marais, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-42-72-47-47. Métro: St-Paul.
Pause Cafe. This Bastille corner attracts a chic, artsy crowd for coffee, cheap beer, and tasty, inexpensive chili and quiche at its red-and-yellow Formica tables. 41 rue de Charonne, Bastille/Nation, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-48-06-80-33. Métro: Ledru-Rollin.

Rive Gauche pâtissiers have particularly devoted fans of their macarons. Pierre Hermé (72 rue Bonaparte, 6. PHONE: 01-43-54-47-77, Métro: Saint-Sulpice) challenges the classics with exotic flavors like peach-saffron, olive oil, and white truffle.
Another up-and-coming force in the avant-garde pâtisserie world is Tokyo-born Sadaharu Aoki (Rennes). Mailing address: 35 rue Vaugirard, 6, St-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-45-44-48-90, Métro: Rennes.; look for his green-tea madeleines and black-sesame éclairs.

Best in 5-7 Days Itinerary
Day 1
Head first to the Tour Eiffel: morning (or late evening) is the best time to avoid the crowds. The most thrilling approach is via Champ de Mars.
Afterwards, tour the Seine on the Bateaux Mouches; these boats depart regularly from place de l'Alma.
From here, walk or take the métro to the Arc de Triomphe; from the top there's a great view of the boulevards emanating from L'Étoile and the noble vistas extending to the Louvre and La Défense.
Then work your way along the Champs Élysées, across Place de la Concorde and the Jardin des Tuileries to the Louvre. Don't visit the museum now -- wait until the next morning, when it's less crowded.
Day 2
Get to the Louvre (closed on Tuesdays) early to avoid the crowds; in one morning you'll only be able to see part of the museum -- it's that big.
After lunch, wander along the ritzy rue St-Honoré. Here you'll find the French president's home, the Palais de l'Élysée (closed to the public), and the Neoclassical Église de la Madeleine.
For good shopping and a look at Haussmann's 19th-century Paris and the famous Opéra Garnier, join up with the Grand Boulevards.
Spend the late afternoon getting a sense of Paris's village-like character by exploring Montmartre. Either walk (heading north along rue du Faubourg Montmartre to rue Notre-Dame de Lorette to rue Fontaine to place Blanche) or take the métro to the Pigalle or Blanche stop.
On boulevard de Clinchy you'll find the famous Moulin Rouge.
Continue up into Montmartre, via place des Abbesses. On this square are two Art Nouveau gems: the church of St-Jean de Montmartre, and the Art Nouveau Guimard entrance to the Abbesses métro station.
From here, walk through the winding, hilly streets to place du Tertre, and then on to Sacré-Coeur, where there's a tremendous view of the city below.
Day 3
Start the morning admiring the Impressionists in the Musée d'Orsay (closed on Monday); arrive early to avoid the crowds. Then head to Notre-Dame Cathedral, perhaps the most inspiring monument in Paris.
In the afternoon explore the Latin Quarter, using the Panthéon dome as a landmark. Take time to relax in the Jardin du Luxembourg or sip coffee in a neighborhood café.
When to Go
The major tourist season in France stretches from Easter to mid-September, but Paris has much to offer in every season. Paris in the early spring can be disappointingly damp, though it's relatively tourist free; May and June are delightful, with good weather and plenty of cultural attractions.
July and August can be sultry. Moreover, many theaters and some of the smaller restaurants and shops close for the entire month of August. If you're undeterred by hot weather and pollution, you'll notice a relaxed atmosphere around the city, as this is the month when most Parisians are on vacation.
September is ideal. Cultural life revives after the summer break, and sunny weather often continues through the first half of October. The ballet and theater are in full swing in November, but the weather is part wet and cold, part bright and sunny. December is dominated by the fêtes de fin d'année (end-of-year festivities), and a busy theater, ballet, and opera season goes well into January.

Begin with the 3-day itinerary above, then on your fourth day begin at the Musée d'Orsay, where many of the most famous Impressionist paintings in the world are on view. Pay your respects to Napoléon at the nearby church of the Hôtel des Invalides and then to the great sculptor Rodin, at the Musée Rodin, housed in one of the prettiest hôtels particuliers in the city. Head east along the boulevard St-Germain to the picturesque place Furstenberg to visit the Musée Delacroix, the haunt of another great artist and set on gorgeous place Furstenberg. South a few blocks is the Jardin du Luxembourg, perfect for a sylvan time-out. If you're not tired yet, stop in at the extraordinary Musée National du Moyen-Age, which graces the time-stained Hôtel de Cluny.
On your fifth day begin on the Ile St-Louis -- the little island sitting next to the larger Ile de la Cité in the Seine. Although there are no major sights to see here, you'll find an enchanting neighborhood that has more than a touch of the time machine to it. Cross over the Seine to the Marais -- one of the city's most venerable quarters, studded with great Baroque and Rococo mansions, many of which are now museums, including the Musée Picasso. Nearby is another mecca for modern-art lovers, the Centre Beaubourg, although those with more traditional tastes will make a beeline for the Musée Carnavalet (the Paris History Museum). Then, to give your less-than-bionic feet a well-deserved rest, head to the magnificent 17th-century square place des Vosges to enjoy sunset on one of its park benches and dinner at one of the casual cafés lining the square.
On your sixth day take a vacation from your Paris vacation by heading out for a day trip to Versailles, built in bicep-flexing Baroque splendor. Don't forget to explore its vast park in order to take in the intimate Petit Trianon and Hameau, which was Marie-Antoinette's toy farm.
On your seventh day get up at dawn and hurry up to the Butte (mound) of Montmartre, which graces a dramatic rise over the city. Get here to see the sun rise over the entire city from your perch on place du Parvis, in front of the basilica of the Sacré-Coeur. Track the spirit of Toulouse-Lautrec through the streets and to the Musée de Montmartre. For your last afternoon, descend back into the city to either attack some of the city's "other" museums (the Musée Cognacq-Jay and the Musée Maillol), to explore Montparnasse, or, for a unique grande finale to your trip, visit some "permanent" Parisians ensconced in noble marble splendor at legendary Cimetière du Père-Lachaise. Congratuations are in order: you've just finished a unique cram course in French culture and history.

Fast-Food Options
"Le fast food" is not what Paris does best; you can easily spend two hours, albeit pleasantly, having lunch in a café. There's no point trying to make a Parisian waiter move faster than he wants to; instead, head to a new breed of snack shop that puts speed first without sacrificing quality.

Le Pain Quotidien:
Part bakery, part café, this Belgian chain with locations throughout the city serves wonderfully fresh salads and sandwiches, plus tasty cakes. Avoid peak times, when it can be overrun with office workers.

Cosi (54 rue de Seine, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-46-33-36-36):
Miles from the cardboard panini served at so many crepe stands, this Italian sandwich shop in St-Germain piles the fillings onto crusty bread. You order at the counter downstairs and carry your sandwich upstairs, where there is (oh, miracle) a no-smoking area.

Nils (36 rue Montorgueil, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-55-34-39-49, 10 rue de Buci, PHONE: 01-46-34-82-82):
The Danes eat lunch in 15 minutes and live to be over 80, which is reason enough to eat at these Scandinavian delis. Try a rolled Swedish sandwich or a smoked fish plate, and save room for a blueberry tart.

Be (73 bd. de Courcelles, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-46-22-20-20):
Star chef Alain Ducasse and bread whizz Eric Kayser have created this neighborhood deli for Parisians weary of endless jambon-beurre (ham and butter) baguettes. Try a luxury sandwich at one of the handful of tables and choose from condiments hand-selected by the great chef.
Oh Poivrier! Specializing in quirkily named open-faced sandwiches, this chain makes a good alternative to slower-paced cafés, with terraces in some scenic spots.

Best Bus Rides
Imagine passing the Louvre as part of your daily commute. Some of the city's public bus routes are fantastically scenic; hop on the right one and you can get a great tour for just EUR1.30 -- sans squawking commentary. The No. 29 route reaches from the Gare St-Lazare, past the Opéra Garnier, to the heart of the Marais, crossing the place des Vosges before ending up at the Bastille. This is one of the few lines that run primarily on small streets versus major arteries. Hop on a No. 69 bus at the Champ de Mars (by the Tour Eiffel) and ride through parts of the Quartier Latin, across the bridge to the Rive Droite near the Louvre, and on to the Bastille area. The No. 72 bus follows the Seine from the Hôtel de Ville west past the Louvre and most of the big-name Rive Droite sights, also giving you views of the Rive Gauche, including the Tour Eiffel.
Hitting the Sweet Spot
The salty tang of caviar, a silken sweep of foie gras, a glossy chocolate glaze on an impeccable pastry…are you in one of Paris's haute cuisine restaurants? Not necessarily. The city bursts with extraordinary pâtisseries (pastry shops) and boulangeries (bakeries) where you can taste some of the world's best delicacies for only a few euros.
Parisians not only seek out the best overall pâtisseries and boulangeries but also hold passionate opinions on the specialties of each establishment. Ask for a tip and you could be sent to one boulangerie for a baguette and another, on the other side of town, for a croissant. Now's your chance to taste for yourself.
Some stores follow the traditional three-step customer service protocol. First you place your order at the counter and receive a receipt. Then you go to the caisse to pay and get your receipt stamped. Finally, you return to the first counter to exchange the stamped receipt for your package of edible art. Many of the sweet spots below have multiple locations; here only the original store is listed.
No bread in Paris is more celebrated than the artisanal sourdough loaves from Poilâne (8 rue du Cherche-Midi, 6, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-45-48-42-59, Métro: Saint-Sulpice), the surprisingly modest boulangerie of the late master Lionel Poilâne. But some star-studded chefs defer to Jean-Luc Poujauran (20 rue Jean-Nicot, 7, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-47-05-80-88, Métro: La Tour-Maubourg), whose homey shop has an antique stained-glass ceiling. Pick up a foie gras galette for a sensational lunch on the run. For another savory bite, try the delicate finger sandwiches at Ladurée (16 rue Royale, 8, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-42-60-21-79, Métro: Madeleine). This 19th-century tearoom also offers coffee-, caramel-, and rose-flavor religieuses (cream-filled pastries vaguely resembling nuns in full habit) and a dozen kinds of macarons, the airy, ganache-filled cookies Ladurée claims as its invention.
A masterful rendition of the classic opéra (almond cake layered with chocolate and coffee cream) beckons from the cases of Lenôtre (61 rue Lecourbe, 15, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-42-73-20-97, Métro: Sèvres-Lecourbe). Other opéra lovers flock to Fauchon (26 pl. de la Madeleine, 8, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-47-42-60-11, Métro: Madeleine), the fine-food emporium. Another traditional pastry is the mont-blanc, a miniature mountain of chestnut purée capped with whipped cream, best rendered by Jean-Paul Hévin (3 rue Vavin, 6, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-43-54-09-85, Métro: Vavin). Christian Constant (37 rue d'Assas, 6, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-53-63-15-15, Métro: Rennes) uses chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa butter in his pastries, resulting in an incredibly intense chocolate fix. La Maison du Chocolat (225 rue du Faubourg St-Honoré, 8, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-42-27-39-44, Métro: Ternes), the cocoa-color boutique of preeminent chocolatier Robert Linxe, sells exquisite pastries, cocoa, and truffles.
Two Rive Gauche pâtissiers have particularly devoted fans of their macarons. The flavors at Gérard Mulot (76 rue de Seine, 6, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-43-26-85-77, Métro: Mabillon Saint-Sulpice Rennes) include pistachio, caramel, and a terrific orange-cinnamon. Gérard Mulot (76 rue de Seine, 6, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-43-26-85-77, Métro: Mabillon Saint-Sulpice Rennes) challenges the classics with exotic flavors like peach-saffron, olive oil, and white truffle. Another up-and-coming force in the avant-garde pâtisserie world is Tokyo-born Gérard Mulot (76 rue de Seine, 6, Paris, France. PHONE: 01-43-26-85-77, Métro: Mabillon Saint-Sulpice Rennes); look for his green-tea madeleines and black-sesame éclairs.
Jump to the Head of the Line
Something to consider in the time-versus-money balance: the Carte Musées et Monuments (Museums and Monuments Pass), which offers unlimited access to more than 65 museums and monuments. You can get passes for one-, three-, or five-consecutive-day periods; the cost, respectively, is EUR15, EUR30, and EUR45. Considering that most Paris museums cost under EUR10, you have to be serious about museum-going to make this pay off, but there is one major plus: you get to jump to the head of the line by displaying it, a coup when there are 600 people lined up to get into the Musée d'Orsay. The pass is available at Paris's tourist offices and métro stations and at all participating museums, and it comes with a handy info list of all the museums you can visit. For more information see www.intermusees.com.

Mimi 06 33 94 68 17

posted by CapriR @ 2:27 PM