#2 best destination in the world

Eiffel Tower

800px-Tour_Eiffel_Wikimedia_Commons_(cropped).jpg

  • Iron lattice tower constructed from 1887-1889, as the entrance to the World’s Fair
  • #14 of the top 25 landmarks in the world
  • Initially it was criticized by some of France’s leading artists and intellectuals for its design
  • Now it is one of the most recognizable structures in the world
  • 81 stories, it’s the tallest structure in Paris

Notre-Dame de Paris

1920px-Notre_Dame_de_Paris_by_night.jpg

  • Medieval Catholic cathedral widely considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture
  • #12 of the top 25 landmarks in the world
  • Contains relics such as the purported Crown of Thorns, a fragment of the True Cross, and one of the Holy Nail
  • UNESCO World Heritage Site

Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture

4570516853_ec3c8d7c85_b

  • Was a circular railway built as a means to supply the city’s fortification walls, and as a connection between Paris’ railway termini
  • Built in 1851
  • Mostly abandoned in 1934, due to the popularity of the Paris Metro

Catacombs of Paris

paris-2156511_1280

  • Underground ossuaries in Paris, which hold the remains of more than six million people, in a small part of a tunnel network built to consolidate Paris’ ancient stone quarries
  • This ossuary was created as part of the effort to eliminate the city’s overflowing cemeteries, in the late 1700s

59 Rivoli

Squat_à_Paris_(59,_rue_de_Rivoli,_1er_ardt)

  • Art collective in a former squat, with 30 artists’ studios, an exhibition space, and a concert venue

Père Lachaise Cemetery

30622838184_04c0890672_b

  • Largest cemetery in Paris and the most visited necropolis in the world
  • Was the first garden cemetery, as well as the first municipal cemetery in Paris
  • Established in 1804

Musee des Vampires Et du Monde de l’Imaginaire

2b81e267b42edf31853e0b0335e2a1172e73e79f.jpg

  • Macabre museum dedicated to research on vampirism and folklore

Disneyland Paris

Disneyland_Hotel,_Paris,_France,_2011 (1).jpg

  • Most visited theme park in Europe
  • #21 of the top 25 amusement parks in the world
  • 4,800 acres compasses 2 theme parks, resort hotels, shopping, dining, an entertainment complex, and a golf course
  • Opened in 1992

Seine

1600px-France,_Paris,_trafic_sur_la_Seine_entre_le_Pont_des_Arts_et_le_Pont-Neuf.jpg

  • Important commercial waterway in Paris that goes through 37 bridges, one of which, Pont Neuf, dates back to 1607

Musée d’Orsay

MuseeOrsay_20070324.jpg

  • Museum on the bank of the Seine housed in a railway station built between 1898 and 1914
  • #1 of the top 25 museums in the world
  • Includes paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography
  • Houses the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces in the world by painters like Monet and Van Gogh

Louvre

1920px-Paris_July_2011-27a.jpg

  • #7 of the top 25 museums in the world
  • World’s largest art museum with approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century
  • Most visited art museum in the world
  • Originally a museum housed in the Louvre Palace

Palace of Versailles

1920px-Vue_aérienne_du_domaine_de_Versailles_par_ToucanWings_-_Creative_Commons_By_Sa_3.0_-_073.jpg

  • Royal château in Versailles that is now a museum
  • Village dating back to the 11th century, now a wealthy suburb of Paris
  • Building the château and maintaining the court there was phenomenally expensive, but did a good deal to establish the dominance of French style and taste in the whole of Europe, giving French luxury manufacturing advantages
  • UNESCO World Heritage Site

Vieux Nice

SONY DSC

  • The city’s vibrant old town features narrow cobblestone streets and pastel-hued buildings where shops sell Niçoise soaps and Provençal textiles, plus meats and cheeses
  • A daily market on pedestrian street Cours Saleya offers produce and flowers, and busy pubs and outdoor eateries serving specialties like socca crepes are all over the town
  • Leafy, hilltop Parc de la Colline du Château has grand city and sea views

Avignon

back-alley-in-avignon-france

  • Ancient town centre enclosed by medieval ramparts
  • Between 1309 and 1377, during the Avignon Papacy, seven successive popes resided in Avignon and in 1348 Pope Clement VI bought the town from Joanna I of Naples
  • Papal control persisted until 1791 when, during the French Revolution, it became part of France
  • The town is now the capital of the Vaucluse department and one of the few French cities to have preserved its ramparts

Notre-Dame de la Garde

Notre_Dame_de_la_Garde.jpg

  • Catholic basilica built on the foundations of an ancient fort
  • Built in 1864
  • Consists of a Romanesque style crypt carved from the rock, and an upper church of Neo-Byzantine style decorated mosaics

Futuroscope

Kinémax_Futuroscope

  • Theme park based upon multimedia, cinematographic futuroscope and audio-visual techniques
  • The park has several 3D cinemas and a few 4D cinemas along with other attractions and shows, some of which are the only examples in the world
  • Opened in 1987

Puy du Fou

Ledrakkar

  • #2 of the top theme parks in the world
  • Started in 1977

Tumulus of Bougon

Tumulus_Bougon

  • One of the oldest buildings in the world
  • Group of five Neolithic barrows located in Bougon
  • Their discovery in 1840 raised great scientific interest
  • To protect the monuments, the site was acquired by the department of Deux-Sèvres in 1873
  • The oldest structures of this prehistoric monument date to 4700 BC

Dolmen de Bagneux

800px-Bagneux_(Indre)_(18447470618)

  • Megalith and one of the largest dolmen in France and in Europe
  • Archaeologists still do not know who erected these dolmens, which makes it difficult to know why they did it
  • They are generally all regarded as tombs or burial chambers, despite the absence of clear evidence for this
  • Constructed around 3000 BC

Gavrinis

Gavrinis_passage,_replica.Musée_de_Bougon

  • Small island that contains the Gavrinis tomb, a megalithic monument notable for its abundance of megalithic art in the European Neolithic
  • Built in 3500 BC
  • One of the oldest buildings in the world

Saint-Michel Tumulus

Carnac_-56-_Tumulus_Saint-Michel_et_la_Chapelle_Saint-Michel_photo_n°104

  • One of the oldest buildings in the world
  • Megalithic grave mound, and the largest grave mound in continental Europe
  • Built in 4500 BC
  • Explored in 1862, researchers found there a central vault containing a fairly prestigious funerary furniture : axes, pearls, flint tools and sillimanite

Barnenez

Barnenez_front2

  • One of the oldest buildings in the world
  • Neolithic monument located in Brittany
  • It dates to the early Neolithic, about 4850 BC
  • It is considered one of the earliest megalithic monuments in Europe, as well as one of the oldest man-made structures in the world, along with the Tumulus of Bougon and Locmariaquer megaliths, also located in Great West France
  • It is also remarkable for the presence of megalithic art

Mont Saint-Michel

1920px-Mont_St_Michel_3,_Brittany,_France_-_July_2011.jpg

  • Island commune in Normandy, off the country’s coast
  • The island is 247 acres and houses only 44 people
  • Was a strategic fortification since the 8th century because when the tide came in, it drove off or drowned would-be assailants
  • Exemplifies the feudal society that constructed it: on top, God, the abbey and monastery; below, the great halls; then stores and housing; and at the bottom, outside the walls, houses for fishermen and farmers.
  • UNESCO World Heritage Site

Costs

Number of Days: 28 days

Best Time To Fly: April-June, Sept-Nov

Airline tickets: $1,479

Seattle -> Paris (round trip) = $1,479

Food: $44/day x 28 days = $1,232

Rental car: $36/day x 8 days = $288

Gas: $442

Entertainment: $568

Airbnb: $116/day x 26 days = $3,016

TOTAL: $7,025