Just walking through the Louvre and the garden is really extraordinary. They'll have a little carnival set up near the Place de la Concorde. People sit around the fountains, and there are these beautiful metal chairs you can sit in and read the newspaper, eat a baguette, or, you know, feel Parisian for a moment. It's really awesome, even when it rains or the weather is inclement, which is common in Paris. It might be overcast and there are beautiful rolling clouds that just come for days and days or weeks and weeks. Even when it's raining, to walk the gardens of the Louvre is nice, because the air is really clean and it just feels so distinctly French, you can't possibly imagine being anywhere else.

THE GREAT BEYOND
The idea behind the Centre Pompidou [pictured at right], the one that has all of the beautiful pipes going up on the outside of it, and which was done long before Blade Runner was a film, was to expose what's usually hidden in a building and put it on the outside. So they ran all of the pipes on the outside, and now it's a landmark. It may be complacent to say that it's right up there with Notre Dame, but when you think of Paris, you think of the Pompidou. It has this huge courtyard, like a football field, that moves at a slight angle going down to the entrance, so you feel like you're almost rolling into the place. And then you're in there, and you're just caught up in all the different exhibits they have. They have really good taste. Go to the Pompidou midafternoon, enjoy the museum, and then plan on going up to the roof afterward. The thing to do is go there half an hour before dusk and watch the sun set. It looks out over all of Paris. There's a fountain there, so you're getting a reflection of the sky and the Pompidou itself. The roof of the Pompidou is all glass, and inside they built these massive pods. These giant, amorphous, kind of amoeba-looking pods. It's unlike any other place I've ever been to. It really looks like something out of A Clockwork Orange. The Costes brothers have [restaurants] all over Paris, including at the top of the Centre Pompidou. You have to go there for the view alone, but the menu is really good and the food is fresh. Or you can just sit and have a Coca-Cola. I'd probably have a glass of Champagne or a Campari at dusk. It's a great way to see the city.