The Père Lachaise cemetery in the east of Paris is an unusual spot: the burial grounds of the famous (think Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Balzac, and Chopin) and the unknown, a repository of some extraordinarily beautiful and some very ugly sculptures, a calm place a good stroll. If you didn’t see the occasional hearse and real mourners, you might even manage to forget you’re in a cemetery.

With its wealth of history and world-renowned tourist attractions, it’s not difficult for your Paris retreat to descend into a marathon of sight-seeing and a race against the clock to consume as much culture as you can possibly stomach. Your feet won’t thank you and there is little respite to be had in a nymph-sized Parisian coffee. But that is not to say that the Paris cultural experience cannot be uplifting. For a traditional approach to sight-seeing with a liberating twist, escape the hordes and see Paris from above.

As you wait on the surface to go down into the Catacombs of Paris, nothing can prepare you for what you are about to see.  The bodies of over six million Parisians piled up in ordered patterns along the walls of the old limestone quarries. Over two kilometres of tunnels and pathways lead you through this macabre spectacle.

Cathédrale Notre Dame is the most visited landmark in Paris resulting in a vast sea of people flooding the Place du Parvis Notre Dame directly in front of the cathedral. A short walk across the Petit Pont from Île de la Cité, in front of Cathedrale Notre Dame, will bring you to Quai de Montebello and a small square called: Square René-Viviani.

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Paris is not only a leading world destination for visits to Paris and greater France, but it's a great jumping-off point for travel to the rest of the world. In an hour or two, you can travel economically by rail or jet to a neighboring country or continent. BonjourParis publisher Karen Fawcett has advice for world travelers considering such a leap.

Paris is a walker's dream; and here we share Paul Prescott's self-guided walk on Île-de-la-Cité. Follow his lead for close-up looks at Pont Neuf, la Sainte-Chapelle, Notre-Dame, beautiful Place Dauphine, the Paris flower market, the home where Abélard and Héloïse met, a memorial to WWII deportation victims, and a more to discover on Île-de-la-Cité.

In Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, the character Jake Barnes states, "No matter what café in Montparnasse you ask a taxi driver to bring you to from the right bank of the river, they always take you to the Rotonde." La Rotonde Continues to be a Favorite.