Details: Le Marais guided walking tour
This 2-hour walking tour of the Marais quarter accompanied by a licensed local Paris guide will transport you into the history of Paris as you discover 17th century town mansions around the celebrated and safeguarded Place des Vosges, anecdotes about the French Revolution around the Bastille, the old Jewish quarter on rue des Rosiers, cobbled streets and courtyards with stories of murderers and prisoners, trendy vintage clothes shops, and finally the resolutely modern and controversial Pompidou Center, just a stone's throw from the Forum des Halles shopping mall.
Details: Place de la Bastille
Experience the Place de la Bastille, where on July 14, 1789, an angry Parisian mob stormed the notorious prison and freed the prisoners.
Details: Louvre visit
The world's largest art museum, the Louvre is housed in a Medieval fortress-turned-castle so grand it's worth a tour itself. You walk through the 71-foot glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei and added in 1989, and step into another world--one with carved ceilings, deep-set windows, and so many architectural details you could spend a week just admiring the rooms. The Mona Lisa is here, as well as the Venus de Milo and Winged Victory (the headless statue, circa 200 BC, discovered at Samothrace). The Louvre has seven different departments of paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and antiquities. Don't miss the Egyptian collection, complete with creepy sarcophagi, or the collection of Greek ceramics, one of the largest in the world. (Please note the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays.)
Details: Seine River cruise
See the city from the water on an hour-long cruise along the River Seine. The Seine cuts right through Paris, dividing the city in half. See the Eiffel tower rising up on the Left Bank, the walls of the Louvre on the Right Bank. A guide will point out other monuments and architectural marvels as you pass, many of which are illuminated by clear white light at night.
Details: Notre Dame Cathedral
Work began in 1163 on a spot that had been a holy shrine since
Roman times. Over the centuries, the cathedral has been the scene of some of France's
most momentous occasions, including the coronation of Napoleon.