Attractions

Eiffel Tower
Champ de Mars, Quai Branly, Paris 75007, France

The Paris vista seen from the monument is of course one of the major attractions. Visitors are also wooed by the structural force of the Tower, including its evening splendor when the Tower turns on its golden lighting and glittering lights that flash at the stroke of the hour. The Tower is open during long hours every day of the year – 9:30am to 11:45pm in winter, 9:00am to 12:45am in summer – with 30% of the visitors arriving during the evening hours.

The Louvre
99 rue de Rivoli, Paris 75001, France
Tel: (33) 01 40 20 53 17

From its beginnings as a royal fortress to the public institution we see today, discover the Musée du Louvre: its role, its aims, and the expertise of the people who make it work. From the outset, the Louvre has embodied the concept of a truly "universal" institution. Universal in the scope of its collections, it is also universal in its appeal to some 6 million visitors every year. Each season, the Louvre features a series of temporary exhibitions, each the result of the latest expert research. Some of these shows are more suitable for the general public, but in their conception they act as echoes, versions and counterpoints to the museum's collections. The Musée du Louvre houses 35,000 works of art drawn from eight departments, displayed in over 60,000 square meters of exhibition space dedicated to the permanent collections.

Chateau Maucaillou
Moulis-en-Medoc, Bordeaux 33480, France
Tel: 33 5 56 58 01 23

Maucaillou's soil contains blue and pink pebbles, and the attractive chateau building is famous for its red and ochre colours. Chateau Maucaillou makes an outstanding, fruity wine. The chateau's elaborate architecture is remarkable, reminding the visitor of Renaissance, mid and late 18th century styles. It is an excellent example of the eclecticism of late 19th-century buildings in the Médoc.

Arc De Triomphe
Place Charles de Gaulle, Paris 75008, France

In 1806, Napoleon I decided to build an arch in place de l'Etoile to glorify the Grande Armée. The architect Jean-françois Chalgrin designed it and the building work was finished in 1836, under Louis-Philippe. The monument's pedestals were ornated with four allegorical high reliefs by Cortot, Etex and particularly Rude (with his famous "Marseillaise"). The Arc de Triomphe, a great national symbol, has been the seat of major events like the return of the Emperor's ashes in 1840 or the burial of the Unknown Soldier in 1921. In the middle of an imaginary line going from the Louvre to the Grande Arche de la Défense, it is today a link between the old Paris and the contemporary Paris.

The Panthéon

At the summit of the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, in the heart of the Latin Quarter with its schools and universities, the Panthéon dominates all of Paris. For most of the 19th century, well before the Eiffel tower, the Sacré-Coeur of Montmartre or the Montparnasse tower, the Panthéon was the first monument seen by travelers arriving in Paris from the provinces or from abroad, and a site from which the whole city could be admired in a single, unique, sweeping view.

Cite de L'Espace
Avenue Jean Gonord, Toulouse, France
Tel: 05 62 71 64 80

Amazing science museum and planetarium. Discover the mysteries of the Earth and Universe through interactive exhibits and displays, tours and more.

Augustins Museum
21 rue de Metz, Toulouse 31000, France
Tel: 05-61-22-21-82

Since 1793, the Augustins museum, musée des Beaux-arts de la ville de Toulouse, seated at the historical heart of the city in a remarkable convent building characteristic of the southern gothic style, has been home to collections of paintings and sculptures dating from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 20th century. The variety and richness of the works highlight the most important movements in the history of western art. Particularly rich in sculptures, the Augustins museum owns a unique collection of romanesque sculptures and has an equally superb ensemble of masterpieces representing southern gothic sculpture as well as numerous 19th century sculptures, representative of the vitality of artistic life in Toulouse.

The Gadagne Museum
1 place du Petit-College, Lyon, France
Tel: 04-78-42-03-61

The Gadagne Museum joins together the museum of history of Lyon and the International Puppet Museum. Established in Old man-Lyon, world inheritance of UNESCO, its architecture is characteristic of the most beautiful Renaissance sets of the city. It is currently in complete restoration and reorganization.