Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
After Your Visit:
Consider a break in the sumptuous museum tearoom, with delicious
cakes and tea (daily 11:45-17:30). From here walk north on Rue de Courcelles to see Paris'
most beautiful park, Parc Monceau.
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Petit Palais (and its Musée des Beaux-Arts)
This free museum displays a broad collection of paintings and sculpture from the 1600s
to the 1900s. It's a museum of second-choice art, but the building itself is impressive, and
there are a few 19th-century diamonds in the rough, including pieces by Courbet, Monet,
the American painter Mary Cassatt, and other Impressionists. The Palais also has a pleasant
garden courtyard and café.
CostandHours:
Free,Tue-Sun10:00-18:00,Thuuntil20:00fortemporaryexhibitions,
closedMon;acrossfromGrandPalais onAvenueWinstonChurchill, alooooongblockwest
of Place de la Concorde; tel. 01 53 43 40 00,
www.petitpalais.paris.fr
.
This grand exhibition hall, built for the 1900 World's Fair, is used for temporary exhibits.
The building's Industrial Age, erector-set, iron-and-glass exterior is striking, but the steep
entry price is only worthwhile if you're interested in any of the several different exhibitions
(eachwithdifferenthoursandcosts,locatedinvariouspartsofthebuilding).Manyareasare
undergoing renovations, which may still be under way during your visit. Get details on the
current schedule from a TI, in
Pariscope,
or from the website.
Cost and Hours:
Admission prices and hours vary with each exhibition; major exhibi-
tionsusually€11,notcoveredbyMuseumPass;generallyopendaily10:00-20:00,Weduntil
22:00, some parts of building closed Mon, other parts closed Tue, closed between exhibi-
tions; Avenue Winston Churchill, Mo: Rond Point or Champs-Elysées, tel. 01 44 13 17 17,
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La Défense and La Grande Arche
Though Paris keeps its historic center classic and skyscraper-free, this district, nicknamed
“lepetitManhattan,”offersanimpressiveexcursionintoasideofParisfewtouristssee:that
of a modern-day economic superpower. La Défense was first conceived more than 60 years
ago as a US-style forest of skyscrapers that would accommodate the business needs of the
modern world. Today La Défense is a thriving commercial and shopping center, home to
150,000 employees and 55,000 residents.
For an interesting visit, take the Métro to the La Défense Grande Arche stop, follow
Sortie Grande Arche
signs, and climb the steps of La Grande Arche for distant city views.
Then stroll gradually downhill among the glass buildings to the Esplanade de la Défense
Métro station, and return home from there.
