try here to start.

great resource. thanks njp!

and does anyone know what the deal is with maison de verre? i know it was privately purchased about a year ago, and if im not mistaken its been under restoration this year, is there anyway to see it? i know its set off from the street quite a bit.

I'd scroll down to the bottom of the discussion page and type PARIS into the search box. You'll find plenty of info about sites to see in Paris.

You may have to scroll through a few unrelated Paris Hilton threads but you'll find what you are looking for there. Promise.

interesting interview further down

Do you think it’s possible to be a good architect if you’re not an alcoholic?
I’m sure it is, but I just can’t imagine it.

The Louvre
The Grand Palais
Notre Dame
Saint-Sulpice
Parc de la Villette

The Pompidou. Last time i was there they were setting up an exhibition about the building (it has its 30th anniversary this year).

I'd also suggest sacre coeur - the views are fantastic.

if you're at all interested in sculpture, rodin's museum is great.

while the louvre is a sight to see, it's huge. i spent a day there and still didn't get to see everything. if you only have two days, you might be better off walking around the city. on the other hand, if you do end up over in that area, there's this place that serves the best hot chocolate IN THE WORLD called angelina close to the louvre.

make sure to walk through jardin du luxembourg. great place to pick up some lunch, sit and people watch. in fact almost any park in paris is good for that.

i love paris... writing about it makes me want to go back...

If you only have two days, Parc de la Villette is not worth seeing. Go see Versailles instead.

You know...two days may seem like a lot, but it will fly by. There are tons of things to see and you need to get it in your head that you WILL be going back to Paris sometime, so you don't have to see everything now. I would strongly suggest that if this is your first visit to Paris and you only have two days, that you concentrate on the center of the city and do a lot of walking combined with short Metro rides. You can cover a lot of the center city that way (Notre Dame, The Louvre, etc.). You will get a real sense of the city and a lot of ideas for what you would like to do when you come back again. Concentrate on absorbing the feel of the city, the urban planning aspects, rather than trying to see a bunch of individual buildings. I'm not saying there are not plenty of great buildings to see, but I am am suggesting that you will exhaust yourself trying to run around to a lot of specific buildings rather than concentrating on a specific part of the city. Start in the middle. You will get a great sense of the culture, the urban characteristics, and will certainly see some fine architecture, as well.

Also, regarding The Louvre, the writer above is correct. The Louvre is a multi-day visit all by itself. I suggest for your very short visit to Paris that you check out the pyramid entrance and, maybe, one gallery at most (even that could eat up several hours), and then get out. Your entire visit could easily be spent in The Louvre.

Maison de Verre is, indeed, worthy of seeing, but is best if you can arrange, somehow, to get inside. This is very difficult to do and usually involves knowing someone who knows someone, etc. You can see the front facade from the street (although not well). I would wait until another visit to Paris to see this work.

Good luck. Have some fun...sit in a cafe. Do not make yourself crazy trying to do it all in one short visit.

thanks for the suggestions everyone. upon searching for 'paris' i mostly found threads that say paris is at least a 4-5 day city. i think the comment above about starting at the center and moving out is a great suggestion, i could see how building chasing could get exhausting and eat all of my time.
after paris its zurich - vals - como/milan - cinque terra

Hike all of Cinque Terra. Don't cop out and take the train from one city to another. You can do the entire hike in a day.

that's the plan n_
we're there for 5 days, 1 day for each village

I'd only spend 3 days there and put another 2 days in Paris. One day in each village may be a little much in my humble opinion.

While each village is unique and charming, remember each is extraordinarily small with little to offer in terms of museums or events. You would still be able to walk each village street by street, hike the trail, and lounge on the beach in a still relaxing three days.

yeah i hear you...what i didn't mention is this is my honeymoon, so we figured that relaxing and gorging in the seaside villages would be a nice way to round out the trip. but the itinerary is still malleable and we have given quite a bit of thought to adding an extra day in paris.

I would agree with n_. Your honeymoon!! Don't spend all of your time on trains or in a car!! I would cut out Zurich. It's a great city (and so damn clean that my wife and I both agreed we could eat off the sidewalk and not think twice about it), but my considered opinion is that you are trying to hit too many places and you will be packing/unpacking, checking in/checking out, traveling to/from train station, bus depot, subway, driving, etc. rather than stopping to smell the roses (literally). ADD DAYS TO PARIS!! My God, Paris on your honeymoon! You have to spend more than two days and just enjoy the city. Romantic walks, romantic meals. You'll see plenty of architecture without even trying. You will get back to Europe and see some of the other places another time.

Sorry, but I have known too many people that went to Europe and did the 12 cities in 14 days extravaganza and came home not being able to remember the difference between Berlin and Venice. All of their trip stories revolved around trains, cars, buses and airplanes....because that is where they spent all of their time. I know it sounds very "touristy," but check out some excellent travel books by Frommer's, Europe on $$?/day (used to be Europe on $10/day, but I think that they are way beyond that now, especially with the weak dollar), or Rick Steve's books. Any/all of these will give you excellent ideas of what is possible in the time that you have, and the restaurant/hotel recommendations are generally excellent, also.

we're going to be gone for 3 weeks, im not too worried with confusing cities with each other, although i do know what you mean. my first trip to europe was with my dad, london-nice-barcelona-colonge/duseeldorf-amsterdam-prague in 11 days, all by plane. this is far from that. we want to see paris no doubt, but [and maybe i'll feel differently when im there] we're not the type to be lured by the romance of paris. romantic to us is eating locally prepared italian food while sitting on lake como or exploring the villages of cinque terra. so most of the trip is focused there. we are considering subtracting a day from cinque terra and adding it to paris, but otherwise we're quite excited for the whirlwind, trains included....especially from zurich-como.
as far as zurich...we're spending some time in vals - what says honeymoon more than convincing the fiancee to spend some time at a spa in the swiss alps, while i take in zumthor - and have to go through zurich anyway from paris, so why not sleep over one night?

musee d'orsay

falafel and shopping in the marais

raclette on the rue moufftard

moules frites at one of the bastille cafes

the picasso museum

the pyramide at the louvre

crepes in the tuileries gardens

espresso on the rue de rivoli

ile de france

les bateaux mouch

jambon beurre on the champs elysees

the sacre coeur

campari cocktails at the cafe de la musique at the parc de la villette

rent a bike and ride it around the arc de triomphe and pretend you're winning the tour

etc etc etc

now we're talkin'....

MArch06, three weeks is much more time than I was assuming you had. Your approach based on that length of time sounds very doable to me. And, obviously, only you and the finance can decide what is romantic for you.

mightylittle's list above is a damn good one.

Have a great trip.

Ledoux's Eye-
i kept that info out of the original post [honeymoon and length of overall stay] to cut down on bias. im sure every person has a different vision of their own perfect european vacation, that's why i wanted to stay focused on paris. although i do appreciate everyone's insight, it's helpful to hear the strong feelings towards paris. it has helped push us over the edge and do one more night in paris and maybe 4 days in cinque terra.

happy almost new year!

Spend the whole time in Vals. It's a shame you're not going there in winter, it's quite the pilgrimage.

As for Paris, the Palais Du Challiot had a fantastic exhibit on architecture in France during the 20th century when I was there in September, which included a full size replica of a unit in Corb's Unite D'habilitation. It's a small exhibition that's extremely interesting, especially if you know french.

Aside from that, Centre Georges Pompidou is awesome, the Villas La Rouche mentioned in that linked blog are great, one has been converted by the Foundation Corbusier into a museum, and makes a great short afternoon. Walking by the outside of Quai Branley was a good 15 minute architourist spot. Montmartre and the basilica sacre cour are must dos in the two day as well. I'd go right along with what laurilan said: Experience the feel/planning of the city. Included in this should be some of the infrastructure, the metro system is fantastic, and definitely a key part of experiencing Paris.

My .02 cents: Start your first day on the Il De la Cite, buy a museum pass at Ste Chapelle because there won't be any line, go to notre dame, go to beauborg, eat some lunch, see Georges pompidou, go up to montmartre, check out the view, walk down, see van gogh's apartment on the way, go home and get some sleep (hah!).

Day 2, Palais Du Challiot, look at the eiffel tower from there, then I would suggest walking across the river, past quai branley and then going to Foundation Corbusier, and then just walking around until your knees buckle.

Congratulations and have an awesome time! Oh, and don't forget Giuseppe Terragni's casa del fascio in Como.

Dear lord, I hate charles-de gaulle airport......

Cross the river between the Louvre and the Tuileries, and chuck a left through the burlesque glories of the commercial galleries, marbles and stonework nestled among the upholstery in silk velvets crimson and tapestries deepest green. Wander on, parallel-ish with Blvd St Germain and snap the eulogical graffiti on Serge Gainsbourg's wall. Then with a little right-left-shimmy you, yes you, are strolling down Blvd St Germain towards Café Flore. Be appropriately dressed or be most Frenchly ignored. Glorious. You're having such an existential moment writing in your Moleskine, Obviously money slumming it with the Eurotrash. Glorious. Enjoy.

Richard Rogers is in the Beaubourg at the moment. Lots of very beautiful models, and remarkably little of the man himself.