VIII.8. VISITS BASED ON OBSERVATION

Harold Wolff

Walks in historic Paris 

• Start with a spectral rampart : the left bank, from Odéon to the Seine.

• Saint-Germain-des-Prés, rampart heir

• Antiquarians on the way to Versailles: the 7th district near the Seine.

• Power takes off from the river: the Louvre and Palais-Royal

• Rue Saint-Denis, a trade route for pilgrims and kings: its different sections reveal the past.

• A parade route changes course: the royal imprint, from the Bastille to the Louvre.

• The Latin quarter after victory: a Communard describes.

• A Communard bastion erased and transformed: the 13th district.

 Visits of monuments and famous sites 

• A bastion of the Old Regime: the Institut de France

• Eternal France: river banks and booksellers

• The Palais-Gardens gardens, a world of their own, etc. 

• A cemetery that bewilders: the cemetery of the Holy Innocents.

• The "Court of Miracles"

• The huge open space at the city's heart (les Halles)

• Above and below the Halles now

• Specters emerge from the cemetery

• The place that is ancestor of all (place des Vosges)

• A royal statue for a bridge (pont Neuf)

• The arc that heralds three centuries of calamity (at the Saint-Denis gate)

• Napoleon's tomb: Straight streets lead to a sepulchre. Whose?

• The Obelisk announces a new era

• Les Champs-Élysées, challenged majesty

• The Arc de Triomphe's lame hommage to the plebes

• The July Column, as evasive

• Notre-Dame, from eternity to repression

• A fountain where the emperor crushes Socialism (at place Saint-Michel)

• What Opéra tours won't say (full chapter)

Exploring outskirts

East

• Crime that shook the Sun King's court (near the Saint-Denis gate)

• Eastern Paris, where new worlds emerge (full chapter)  

• The "masterly line" of the working-class east (the Saint Martin canal overpass)

• Blue-collar neighborhoods' vast open spaces (the huge eastern places)

North

• If you absolutely must buy globalized brands (a discount shopping center)

• "Barbès don't panic" 

• The unhailed energies of  La Goutte d'Or

• The "marché Saint-Pierre," textile hub

South (the 13th district)

• Europe's "Chinatown"

• A Communard bastion, erased and transformed 

• A market replaces the army

• A Communard bastion erased and transformed (the 13th)

Visiting churches

• The importance of the Saint-Denis basilica

• The church where "Gothic" architecture began

• A church that changes the way to salvation (Saint-Paul Saint-Louis, 4th)

• "An ounce of prevention:" churches and a park

• A church of vengeance: Montmartre's Sacré-Cœur

• The Sacre-Cœur scares, Sainte-Anne heals

Discovering parks and gardens

• Palais-Royal (and next pages)

• A wood where children play (20th)

• "Real Paris" and a park that flows through the eastern city

• Gardens replace an industrial site (13th)

• From gas-making to a giant park (13th)

• Gardens whose military origin seems hard to imagine (the canal overpass, 10th; please scroll down)

Suggestions for families

• To do with children (or without them)

• For adventurous families

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Next,

VIII.9. 

Recommendations