Overview
Planning Your Trip
Accommodations
Beyond Tourism
Study Abroad
Practical Information
Food
Sights And Activities
Museums
Shopping
Entertainment
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Daytrips
Basics
Parc Monceau. The signs say “Pelouse interdite” (keep off the lawn), but on sunny days, everyone pretends to be illiterate. Lying behind gold-tipped, wrought-iron gates, the Parc Monceau is an expansive urban oasis especially popular with families. There’s plenty of shade, courtesy of the largest tree in Paris: an oriental platane (or plane), 7m thick and two centuries old. The park was designed by painter Carmontelle for the Duc d’Orléans and completed by Haussmann in 1862. A number of architectural oddities—covered bridges, Dutch windmills, Roman ruins, and roller rinks—make this a kids’ romping ground as well as a formal garden. As it is slightly out of the way, this local afternoon hangout has few tourists. (Monceau or Courcelles. Open daily Apr.-Oct. 7am-10pm; Nov.-Mar. 7am-8pm. Last entry 15min. before closing.)
Cathédrale Alexandre-Nevsky. Known as the Église Russe, this shiny gold, 5-domed cathedral is Paris’s primary Russian Orthodox church and Russian cultural center. The spectacular, recently restored interior, lavishly decorated in icons, was painted by artists from St-Petersburg in gold, reds, blues, and greens in the classic Byzantine style. An altar at the back of the church on the right dates from 1289 and is thought to have been taken during the Napoleonic Wars; it was given to the church by the Menier family (famous chocolatiers). The Virgin Mary icon to its right was a gift from a cavalier regiment of the Russian Imperial Guard. Dress appropriately; no shorts or uncovered shoulders are allowed inside. (12 rue Daru. Ternes. ☎ 01 42 27 37 34. Open Tu, F, Su 3-5pm. Services in French and Russian Sa 6-8pm, Su 10am-12:30pm; additional times on church calendar.)
Chapelle Expiatoire. Pl. Louis XVI is composed of the immense Chapelle Expiatoire, monuments to Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI, and a lovely, quiet park excellent for picnicking. During the Revolution, when burial sites were in high demand, lime-filled trenches were dug here to accommodate heaps of hundreds of bodies. Louis XVIII had his brother’s and sister-in-law’s remains removed to St-Denis in 1815, and there are no graves remaining, despite rumors of Marat’s assassin Charlotte Corday being buried here. Statues of the expiatory king and queen stand inside the Chapelle, symbolically guarding a tomb-shaped altar. Their touching final letters are engraved in French on the base of the sculptures. Otherwise, there is not much to see here. (29 rue Pasquier, inside pl. Louis XVI, just below bd. Haussmann. Madeleine, Havre-Caumartin, or St.-Lazare. ☎ 01 44 32 18 00. Open Th-Sa 1-5pm. €5, ages 18-25 €3.50, under 18 free. 45min. tours in French available 1:30 and 3:30pm. English-language pamphlets available at entrance.)
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