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'Nuit Blanche' is an annual event in Paris, whereby (so rumour would have it) everything stays open all night for revelry and awe. Imagine touring the Louvre at 2am, followed by a quiet 4am brunch in a streetside cafe watching the crowds walk past, and the carnival-like atmosphere.
It would be great - if it were true!
Last year's was a shambles. The authorities didn't (wouldn't) release guides until the night itself (and then didn't explain how to get them) and most Parisians had no idea what was open, or where.
We joined the crowds milling outside the Louvre (closed), tried the Musee d'Orsay (closed) and settled for a Bateau Mouche - which turned out to provide the long awaited guidebook once you'd bought your ticket.
The boat trip itself was pleasant, during which we could read the guide - to discover few places indeed were open at all, and the promised 'all night opening' of the Metro only applied to certain lines in certain directions.
The only bar we could find open and not crammed with similarly baffled tourists was Australian (not very Parisian). When we finally gave up, we joined the thousands of others equally trying to desperately get a taxi home in the sub-zero temperatures, and ended up huddled in a Metro entrance (closed) for warmth until the hordes had thinned enough for us to try and get back.
It can't be blamed on our being tourists - as we have French friends who live in Paris and who we'd joined to spend the 'event' with!
Hopefully this year's will be better, but I'd definitely check every detail out in advance, just in case!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuit_Blanche
www.paris.fr/portail/Culture/Portal.lut?page_id=6806
goparis.about.com/od/events/p/Nuit_Blanche.htm
In the Marais district get away from the non-ending 18th-century embellishment and discover some of the finest 20th-century Scandanavian design and furniture. A modernist oasis.
Escape the culture vultures at the Louvre or Musee d'Orsay - head out to the 16th district for the Musee Marmottan.
There, in a peaceful mansion, you'll find the largest Monet collection anywhere. See the entire range of his work, culminating in the Giverny Nympheas, displayed in a wonderful circular gallery.
Admire works of many other Impressionists, including one of the few women, Berthe Morisot, Manet's sister-in-law. Easy to get to (four buses, metro), opposite a delightful park, near good, cheap restaurants - a day out of Paris, in Paris!
If you are under 26, you can visit the Louvre for free on Friday evenings. In an expensive city, this is more than just helpful euro-pinching.
You can arrive as the setting sun catches the top of the glass pyramid (making for the perfect ‘I heart Paris’ portrait) then dash to all the best bits while everyone is making their way out.
As you stand tête-à-tête with the Mona Lisa, you might finally realise what all the fuss is about.
I love this place, they always have some crazy exhibition going on, the shop is full of silly postcards and amazing art books. And the café is definitely worth a visit, go to the terrace outside for fantastic views over the Seine and the Tour d’Eiffel. They also organise special events with DJs and live bands.
Slightly off the beaten track, the Grand Mosque at the 5th Arr. has a large, sunken garden, fountains and a 33-metre high minaret.
The internal courtyards, lined with Andalusian mosaics, are offset by dark eucalyptus and cedar trim. The mosque's adjoining cafe and restaurant, serves excellent north African cuisine such as couscous, tajine and sweet mint tea to all.
I hate wearing glasses but my eyes have a Norman Tebbit-like intolerance of foreign bodies, including contact lenses. But on visiting this museum I felt proud to be a speccie.
Glasses going back 800 years, including some (eg Elton John's) that are positively architectural. You tell me that a museum of contact lenses would look this good!
Musée des lunettes et lorgnettes, Pierre Marly.
You'll feel like you're swimming in Monet's waterlilies if you go late on Friday night - it's open to 9pm - when the crowds have vanished and you have the Orangerie almost to yourself.
The Espace Dali at 11 Rue Poulbot, Montmartre, is hard to find but a suitably surreal experience. I love to spend hours at a time there, looking at paintings, sculpture and live shows.
11 Rue Poulbot, Montmartre
Deep deep into the Bois De Boulogne, so deep in fact that when you ask a taxi driver to take you there, he does not know what you are talking about, is a secret garden.
A garden exclusively inhabited by flowers and plants depicted from the heights of British literature. For here is the Jardin de Shakespeare. A fenced-off and beautiful garden, in which you will find only plants mentioned in Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. Shouldn't this garden be in somewhere in Regent's Park? Well no, because it's in Paris and more.
During the summer month on the natural stage at the end of the garden, companies come to perform repertories from The Complete Works in French and in English with French subtitles. Maybe we should do the same for Alexandre Dumas in Regent's Park?!
Take the metro to Boulogne Pont de St-Cloud, and take a short walk to the Jardin Albert Kahn.
There are very attractive gardens and a little museum which has exhibitions of the photographs and films that he commissioned between 1909 - 1931. This remarkable man sent photographers to remote areas of the world to record the people and how they lived. There has recently been a documentary on television about him and the amazing collection.
It is possible to purchase postcards and posters in the small shop. Unfortunately, the salon de the in the Palm house is not open because the building needs urgent renovation, but there are bars and brasseries next to the metro entrances. This was a fascinating place to visit and is off the usual tourist trail. Highly recommended.
Anatomist Honoré Fragonard flayed the skin off his subjects, soaked them in alcohol, and preserved them with a secret-recipe varnish.
But his best ingredient was a bizarre sense of humour. In the Musée Fragonard, you meet a trio of dancing foetuses, ‘Sansom’ - a toothless man waving a jawbone, and a horseback rider with veins of brightly coloured wax.
Until the 1990s it was only open to those with a ‘specialist interest’.
Fragonard was deemed insane and lost his job. But perhaps he was only trying to bring a human face to medicine – a leering, monstrous, pop-eyed one at that.
The tapestries at the Museum of the Moyen Age as featured in Tracey Chevalier's book "the lion and the Unicorn" - a sense of wonderment - no wonder she was inspired.
The Dapper Museum is small and beautifully formed. Although its name comes from a 17th century Dutch scholar, it suits it perfectly.
Tucked away on the rue Paul Valery in an architecturally stunning building, the museum features art from the African continent, focusing on single aspects of African art and culture in depth (e.g. Congolese sculpture, Gabon masks).
It also has a gift shop and a wonderful café that serves African dishes. While getting to know a city’s major museums can be hard work, the Dapper is a museum you can learn to love in an afternoon.
No trip to Paris is complete without some celluloid experience. Studio 28 (10 Rue de Tholoze) is undoubtedly one of the best places to watch film in Paris.
Opened in the twenties, its history is closely entwined with the avant garde. It has been upgraded, but keeps its original atmosphere thanks to the impressive light fittings by Cocteau.
The charming garden bar is well worth a visit on it own. If your French isn’t up to it, look out for VO (version originale) which means the film will be shown in its original language with French subtitles.
Don't go to the L'ouvre - the queues are too long - better go to the Musee D'Orsai to see many of the classic modern art pieces.
Climbing the staircase from the lower Church to the higher Church in Sainte Chapelle is a huge surprise.
Not visited as often as many buildings in Paris because it appears tucked away in the courtyard of the Palais de Justice.
Walking around the Ile de la City towards Notre Dame is what all visitors to Paris do.
Try going on a Sunday morning when you will find a birdmarket on in the Marche aux Fleur. Amazing sights and sounds to be had. But don’t be tempted to buy a new pet! And don’t foget that the Ile St-Louis should not be missed.
Cross the bridge (pont St Louis) near the back of Notre Dame church and wander the winding streets full of evocative little Parisian shops and tiny bistros.
Its wonderful to explore and make your own discoveries.
When in Paris, and visit Versailles, don't just admire the Palace. Walk down the road to the wonderful market in the town, admire the magnificent vegetables and fruit, sample the magnificent cheeses and drink coffee in one of the lively cafes around the market.
On the Ile de la Cite most people flock to visit Notre Dame but at the upstream tip of the island you will find the memorial des Martyrs de la Deportation - a humble and moving reminder of the 200,000 French citizens who were sent to German concentration camps during WWII.
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