Place des Vosges
The Place des Vosges is the oldest planned square in Paris — built under Henri IV and completed in 1612, its thirty-six pavilions of red brick and white stone forming an arcade that runs continuously around all four sides. Victor Hugo lived at number 6 for sixteen years; his apartment is now a museum and admission is free. The square is at its best on a quiet morning before the restaurants set up their lunch terraces — just the arcades, the fountain, the lime trees, and the extraordinary geometry of a city learning, four hundred years ago, how to organise itself.
The Musée Carnavalet and Musée Picasso
The Musée Carnavalet — the museum of the history of Paris, housed in two Renaissance mansions connected by a courtyard — is one of the best free museums in Europe. The collection runs from prehistoric Paris to the 20th century; the rooms covering the Revolution are unusually affecting. The Musée Picasso, ten minutes away in the Hôtel Salé, holds the largest collection of Picasso's work in the world — assembled from the paintings, sculptures, and ceramics he kept in his own possession throughout his life. Both benefit from weekday visits; weekend afternoons are crowded.
The Jewish Quarter
The streets around Rue des Rosiers have been the centre of Paris's Ashkenazi Jewish community since the 13th century. The neighbourhood survived the deportations of the Second World War at significant cost, and the bakeries and delicatessens that remain are a continuation of something that came very close to being lost. L'As du Fallafel on Rue des Rosiers has a queue that forms regardless of weather or hour; its competition across the street, Chez Marianne, is often faster and equally good. The Katz Bakery on the parallel street supplies the challah and rugelach that the neighbourhood has eaten since before anyone living can remember.
The Marais as a Base
The Marais is the most comfortable central arrondissement in which to stay. It is walking distance from the Pompidou Centre, the Louvre, and the Seine; the metro lines at Saint-Paul and Chemin Vert connect quickly to the rest of the city. The streets between Place des Vosges and the Pompidou have some of the most interesting small galleries in Paris, most of them free to enter. For dinner, the side streets of the Marais — particularly around Rue de Bretagne and the Enfants Rouges covered market — offer the range of Paris's best neighbourhood eating at prices the tourist districts cannot match.
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