Views - not only by kings and emperors, but by the Socialist president Mitterand. Besides the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, several other locations offer appropriately royal perspectives:
Go all the way to the top of this grand old department store (by the Pont Neuf). You'll find, first, a moderately priced café with a glorious view of the Seine and then, up more stairs, a panoramic perch, ringed with tiles showing an earlier Paris.
METRO: Pont Neuf.
Besides the museums, shows and libraries in this 'oil refinery' (as the building has been described), the otherwise banal café at the top offers a surreal view of Paris. Hyper-modern blue and white tubes frame the old churches nearby and, in the distance, Notre Dame.
This relatively new building is striking enough in itself, but don't miss the large terrace at the top, where you can buy tea and sweet pastries while enjoying a view of Paris that is as unusual as it is spectacular.
METROS: Jussieu, Cardinal-Lemoine.
LAST UPDATED:January 2000
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