Quintessential Paris

Hands down, my favorite city in the world. If you love Paris, devour Edmund White's Le Flâneur and George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London if you haven't already had the pleasure. With immense gratitude to Monsieurs White and Orwell and countless others, my quintessential Paris experiences:

 

L’as du Fallafel, on rue des Rosiers in the Marais for the best falafel sandwiches, preferably with eggplant and eaten in the nearby park

The Musée Picasso for the world's best and most manageable collection of his paintings and the lovely wrought-iron railings, light fixtures, and benches by Diego Giacometti

Touristy, yes, but obligatory nonetheless: a boat ride along the Seine on one of the Bateaux-Mouches at night when Notre Dame and other buildings are illuminated

A trek out to Père-Lachaise Cemetery to ponder what has been deposited lately on the graves of Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison, and to pay homage to Chopin, Isadora Duncan, Richard Wright, the Communards, and others

Mint tea at the Mosquée de Paris

The fish-eye view of the Seine from Square du Vert-Galant

The Musée Rodin for its incredible collection, sculpture gardens, and Rilke connections

Sainte Chapelle, particularly for its upper chapel's virtual walls of 13th-century stained glass---the largest such surface in the world---with its incomparable winey reds and cobalt blues (photo at right)

Rue de la Seine for its art galleries, Cosi (yes, the original one, which is nothing like its siblings) for lunch, Fish for dinner, and other assorted charms

The Musée de Cluny for its medieval architecture and the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries

A concert at the small, squat Romanesque church of Saint-Julien le Pauvre

The stark, evocative Mémorial des Martyrs Français de la Déportation de 1945 at the far end of the Ile de la Cité

The Musée d'Orsay for its train-station setting, enormous clock, and collection of masterpieces by the Impressionists, Fauves, and others

Berthillon ice cream, ideally taken from its flagship store on the Ile St.-Louis and eaten al fresco 

Wandering and shopping on the tiny Ile St.-Louis, particularly at dusk

Dinner at 404, 69 rue des Gravilliers in the 3eme, for its sumptuous tagines, exotic Moroccan decor, and hip Arabic grooves

The Arènes de Lutéce, an often-overlooked Roman amphitheater that now hosts the soccer games of kids from the surrounding neighborhood

The symmetry and calm of the Place des Vosges, followed by meandering in the Marais

The Cathédrale de Notre-Dame from its many angles and in as many lights and moods as possible