Sainte-Chapelle in .NET framework

Encoder Code 128 Code Set B in .NET framework Sainte-Chapelle

Ile de la Cit (4e) The interior of this tiny Gothic chapel, almost entirely hidden by the bulk of the Palace of Justice surrounding it, is a sculpture of light and color The thin bits of stone that hold the tall stained-glass windows and brace the roof seem to dissolve in the diffuse and dappled brightness glowing through the 13th-century windows Stopping here provides the most ethereal 20 minutes you can spend in Paris The chapel was built in 1246 to house the Crown of Thorns See map p 230 4 bd du Palais (in the Palais de Justice on the Ile de la Cit ) % 0153-40-60-80 wwwmonumfr M tro: Cit , Ch telet Les-Halles, or St-Michel RER: St-Michel Admission: 550 ($630) adults, 350 ($4) ages 18 25; free for children 17 and under and with the Carte Mus es et Monuments (see Exploring Paris ) Open: Daily 9:30 am 6 pm Closed major holidays

Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower)

Les Invalides (7e) Looking like two sets of train tracks that crashed into each other, Gustave Alexandre Eiffel s tower rises 1,056 feet above the banks of the Seine The man who gave the Statue of Liberty a backbone designed this quintessential Parisian symbol merely as a temporary exhibit for the Exhibition of 1899 and managed to rivet together all 7,000 tons of it (with 25 million rivets) in under two years Fortunately for the French postcard industry, the tower s usefulness as a transmitter of telegraph and later, radio and TV signals saved it from demolition

Critics of the day assailed its aesthetics, but no one could deny the feat of engineering The tower remained the tallest man-made structure in the world until the Chrysler Building stole the title in 1930, and its engineering advances paved the way for the soaring skyscraper architecture of the 20th century The restaurants and bars on the first level are pricey, but not bad The view from the second level is an intimate bird s-eye view of Paris; from the fourth level, you can see the entire city spread out below and, on a good day, as far out as 42 miles Visibility is usually best near sunset; pausing for vistas at all levels takes about 90 minutes See map p 230 Champs-de-Mars % 01-44-11-23-23 wwwtour-eiffelfr M tro: Trocad ro, Ecole-Militaire, Bir-Hakeim RER: Champ-de-Mars Tour Eiffel Admission: First landing, 4 ($460) adults, 220 ($250) children under 12; second landing, 730 ($840) adults, 4 ($460) children under 12; to highest level 1040 ($12) adults, 570 ($655) children under 12; stairs to second floor, 350 ($4) Open: June 19 Aug 29 daily 9:30 am to midnight; Aug 30 June 18 9:30 am 11 pm (but stairs close at 6:30 pm)

Squandering the day away in a cafe: Many European cultures have a third place, between home and work, where citizens play out their lives In Paris, it s the cafe, a sort of public extension of the living room In the cafe, you can sit all day over a single cup of coffee or order a light meal or a flute of champagne Ensconce yourself indoors or stand at the bar, but most people choose to sit outside in a glassed-in porch in winter or on the sidewalk in summer because one of the cafe s biggest attractions is the people-watching Here are some classic cafes: Les Deux Magots (% 01-45-48-55-25; wwwlesdeuxmagotsfr), 6 place St-Germaindes-Pr s, established in 1885, was the haunt of Picasso, Hemingway, and Sartre Sartre wrote a whole trilogy holed up at a table in Caf de Flore (% 01-45-48-55-26; wwwcafe-de-florecom), 172 bd St-Germain-des-Pres, a Left Bank cafe frequented by Camus and Picasso and featured in Gore Vidal novels The Champs-Elys es may no longer be Paris s hot spot, but Fouquet s (% 01-47-23-70-60) at no 99 is still going strong based on its reputation, good food, and favorable reviews by Chaplin, Churchill, FDR, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Henry Miller had his morning porridge at La Coupole (% 01-4320-14-20; wwwcoupolepariscom), 102 bd du Montparnasse, a brasserie that also hosted the likes of Josephine Baker, John Dos Passos, Dal , and F Scott Fitzgerald Finally, you can make a pilgrimage to the Art Nouveau interiors of the new La Rotonde (% 01-4326-68-84), 105 bd du Montparnasse, risen like a phoenix from the ashes of its namesake that once stood here In The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway writes of the original, No matter what cafe in Montparnasse you ask a taxi driver to bring you to they always take you to the Rotonde