Ready to discover mythical Paris as you have seen it in your favourite films?
Monceau Park – a stunning Anglo-Chinese garden is an ideal place to start from. Midnight in Paris and The Aristocats take you there for a walk. Adjoining the park, the private mansion house that has become the Nissim de Camondo museum remains intact as it was at the beginning of the 20th century. It is a testimony to how the great bourgeoisie lived during the belle époque. You would think that you were at the home of Madame and her ‘aristocats’ Duchesse, Marie, Toulouse and Berlioz!
To continue with the best addresses in Paris, go to the hotel Le Bristol Paris for a cocktail in the bar, an outstanding meal or, like Woody Allen, for a city break. It was in this palace that the film maker stayed during the filming of Midnight in Paris, just like his main characters who stayed in the Suite Panoramique. Or you might prefer to stop off at the Taillevent. This starred restaurant appeared in the cinema credits of Ratatouille. The working atmosphere surrounding its chef inspired the teams at Pixar studio and brought the kitchens at Chez Gusto alive.
Next, a stroll down the Champs-Elysées is a must. At no.99, you’ll see the famous Fouquet’s restaurant that appeared in the Da Vinci Code. It’s not surprising that this iconic avenue that stretches out before your eyes was the first view that Andy (Anne Hathaway) and Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) had of Paris, through the tinted windows of their taxi. A little further, at the Petit Palais, the heroines of The Devil Wears Prada attend a fashion show. To stay in the company of the two Americans or to rejoin the fashionistas in the series Gossip Girl, go to Avenue Montaigne. Upscale fashion labels have their wonderful boutiques here. At no.15, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées is a stage in the race for clues that the dynamic duo Carter (Chris Tucker) and Lee (Jackie Chan) have to solve in Rush Hour 3.
Next, you arrive at Palais Galliera which stages magnificent fashion exhibitions. It is here that the party for the closing of Fashion Week is held in The Devil Wears Prada. And for Inception, the palace is converted into a school of architecture visited by Cobb (Leonardo Di Caprio).
Change of scenery! Descend into the musée des Egouts de Paris (Paris’s sewer system museum) on the trail of Ratatouille, when he arrived in Paris. Then take to the heights at the Eiffel Tower. Standing 330-metres tall, the Tower has been the scene of many a movie! It illuminates Midnight in Paris, The Aristocats and Ratatouille, to cite just these, and it becomes an amazing setting for adventure and stunts, notably in Rush Hour 3 and A Monster in Paris. The Pinnacle of chic: lunch or dinner at the Jules Verne, 125-metres high, like Roger Moore in A View to a Kill, the 14th film of the James Bond series.
If you have any energy left, go to the fountains at Trocadéro which became a landing pond for the accomplices in Rush Hour 3, then Bir-Hakeim bridge, the setting for the ‘mirror scene’ in Inception. To find some tranquillity again, get away on a bateau-mouche. However, don’t forget to check that James Bond has not climbed aboard. Your cruise might turn out to be a bit more eventful than you had anticipated!
