Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [96]
The Argonaute (admission €3, under 7yr free; 10am-5.30pm Tue-Sat, to 7pm Sun), a French Navy submarine commissioned in 1957 and dry-docked in the park in 1989, is just southeast of the Géode. The Argonaute is also accessible from level 0. It’s open to children aged three and up.
CITÉ DE LA MUSIQUE Map
01 44 84 44 84; www.cite-musique.fr; 221 av Jean Jaurès, 19e; noon-6pm Tue-Sat, 10am-6pm Sun; Porte de Pantin
The City of Music, on the southern edge of Parc de la Villette, is a striking, triangular-shaped concert hall whose mission is to bring nonelitist music from around the world to Paris’ multiethnic listeners. (For information on concerts and other musical events, Click here.) Next door is the prestigious Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse (National Higher Conservatory of Music & Dance; 01 40 40 45 45; www.cnsmdp.fr; 209 av Jean Jaurès, 19e; Porte de Pantin), featuring concerts and dance performances.
The Musée de la Musique (Music Museum; 01 44 84 44 84; adult/senior, student & 18-25yr €7/3.40, under 18yr free; noon-6pm Tue-Sat, 10am-6pm Sun) in the Cité de la Musique displays some 900 rare musical instruments (from a warehoused collection of 4500); you can hear many of them being played through the earphones included in the admission cost. The museum’s Médiathèque ( 01 44 84 89 45; noon-6pm Tue-Sat) can answer your music questions via the internet; it has terminals with hundreds of music-related sites.
PARC DES BUTTES-CHAUMONT Map
rue Manin & rue Botzaris, 19e; 7.30am-11pm May-Sep, to 9pm Oct-Apr; Buttes- Chaumont or Botzaris
Encircled by tall apartment blocks, the 25-hectare Buttes-Chaumont Park is the closest thing in Paris to Manhattan’s Central Park. The park’s forested slopes hide grottoes and artificial waterfalls, and the lake is dominated by a temple-topped island linked to the mainland by two footbridges. Once a quarry and rubbish tip, the park was given its present form by Baron Haussmann in time for the opening of the 1867 Exposition Universelle.
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BEYOND CENTRAL PARIS
Eating; Shopping
Several places just ‘outside the walls’ of central Paris are worth a visit. To the southeast and the southwest are the ‘lungs’ of Paris, the Bois de Vincennes and the Bois de Boulogne, both important recreational areas. The modern cityscape of La Défense, a mere 20 minutes away at the end of metro line 1 or RER line A, is so different from the rest of centuries-old Paris that it’s worth a visit to put it all in perspective. To the north on metro line 13 is St-Denis, France’s royal resting place and the site of an impressive medieval basilica.
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BOIS DE VINCENNES & SURROUNDS
The ‘Vincennes Wood’ embraces 995 hectares in the southeastern corner of Paris, most just outside the blvd Périphérique (ring road).
AQUARIUM TROPICAL Map
01 53 59 58 60; www.palais-portedoree.org, in French; Palais de la Porte Dorée, 293 av Daumesnil, 12e; adult/4-25yr €5.70/4.20; 10am-5.15pm Tue-Fri, to 7pm Sat & Sun; Porte Dorée
Fish and sea creatures from around the globe swim in tanks spread throughout a dozen rooms at the Tropical Aquarium, on the western edge of Bois de Vincennes. It was established in 1931 in one of the few buildings left from the Exposition Coloniale of that year; a compelling immigration museum (right) is also here.
BOIS DE VINCENNES Map
blvd Poniatowski, 12e; Porte de Charenton or Porte Dorée
On the wood’s northern edge, Château de Vincennes (Palace of Vincennes; 01 48 08 31 20; www.chateau-vincennes.fr; av de Paris, 12e; 10am-6pm May-Aug, to 5pm Sep-Apr; Château de Vincennes) is a bona fide royal chateau with massive fortifications and a moat. The chateau grounds can be strolled for free, but the 52m-high dungeon (1369), a prison during the 17th and 18th centuries, and the Gothic Chapelle Royale (Royal Chapel) can only be visited by guided tour (adult/18-25yr/under