She pointed out the strips of black marble along the sides of the storefronts. They were put there because people started getting sick from the fumes from gas lights hung to recreate the feeling of strolling down a real street. From the Hotel Chopin, I found I could stay under cover for about a mile by walking through several of the arcades and under the stone archways of the Palais-Royal all the way to the Louvre, the grande dame of Paris art museums. Cafe Marly is the place to be on a nice day, but the best views are from inside the restaurant's rich red interior. It's smoky and crowded at lunch, but there's hardly anyone there in the morning.
Most people allow time only for major museums.
But there are many small, specialty museums that are also worth a look. While browsing secondhand shops one Sunday afternoon, I came upon the Museum of Magic and Curiosity down a flight of steps off the Rue St-Paul in the Marais, the Jewish quarter of Paris. Its vaulted cellars include a hall of mirrors, a box for sawing a woman in two and a mechanical clairvoyant that tells your fortune in French. Kids love the 15-minute magic shows performed by a live magician. There's hardly an afternoon or an evening when there isn't a concert in a Parisian church everything from classical music to African-American spirituals.