Montmartre

At the top of butte Montmartre is the Basilica Sacre Coeur, a cathedral completed in 1914. The basilica is located at the highest point in Paris, from which much of the city can be seen. This summit can be reached on the metro or by a scenic tram ride.

On the walk down are shops, galleries, cafes, and ample opportunities to buy paintings and other souvenirs. The Espace Dali Montmartre, a museum of Salvador Dali's art work, is located on a side street and, when I visited, had an exhibition of sculpture and jewelry by Dali.

At the bottom of the hill is the Moulin Rouge.

Île de la Cité

An island in the river Seine, the Île de la Cité is the center of the city of Paris and has been important throughout its history. The island was once inhabited by the Parisii, a tribe of Gauls in the Iron Age, from which the city gets its name. The Île de la Cité has often been a place of refuge during time of siege and is home to the Notre Dame cathedral, built in 1163. Above is my favorite, although not the traditional view, of the cathedral.

For more on the Gauls and a great discussion of their legacy in France today, see Michael Dietler's Our Ancestor's the Gauls: archaeology, ethnic nationalism, and the manipulation of Celtic identity in modern Europe.

Tower Bridge & vicinity

The Tower Bridge, often mistaken (by those of us not from the UK) for the London Bridge, was constructed between 1886 and 1894. The bridge gets its name from the Tower of London, nearby, which was founded in 1066 and since has been used as a prison, armory, royal mint, and is currently a museum and home of the Crown Jewels. Even older than the Bridge or the Tower, remnants of the Roman-era London Wall, built in the 2nd or 3rd century AD, still stand near Tower Hill.