PARIS — You’ve posed for a picture in front of the Eiffel Tower, checked out the Mona Lisa at the Louvre and walked to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.
If you think you’ve done it all in Paris, don’t worry, there are plenty of off-the-beaten-path adventures for your return.
Away from landmarks, tourist crowds and flashing cameras, a few guides will take you on unusual tours to discover artists’ havens in Belleville and fountains of famous gardens. Alongside curious locals, you’ll get a glimpse of a different Paris.
Meet the artists and residents
www.paris-prm.com, $17 (12 euros), offered several times weekly.
Just a few metro stops away from the city’s major monuments lies an overlooked neighborhood that’s worth the detour, especially in the company of Angenic Agnero, who runs the nonprofit organization Paris par Rues Meconnues (Paris Along Unknown Streets).
Agnero has been walking the streets of the neighborhood for 10 years interviewing its residents. She now holds the keys — or rather the door codes — to many buildings, allowing visitors to discover a hidden side of the area.
Walking up narrow streets, Agnero reveals flowery inner courtyards concealing old sculptures, where artist installations and murals have been added. Once the door closes, it’s easy to imagine you’re miles away from Paris, in the quiet countryside.
Although unknown by many, Belleville has had its share of fame.
“La vie en rose” singer Edith Piaf reportedly started her career here singing in the streets. Olivier Dahan’s 2007 film “La Vie en Rose” with French actress Marion Cotillard tells the story of the poor girl who became the country’s biggest star. Many years before, a young boy chased a balloon through the cobbled streets in the 1950s movie “The Red Balloon.”
Working-class Belleville is now home to many of Paris’ ceramists, mosaic artists and various artisans.
While you’re here, pick up locally made hats, gifts and made-to-measure leather shoes.
Water tour
www.pavillondeleau.fr, $7 or 5 euros, offered several times per week. Each tour departs from a different area.
A knowledgeable guide takes small groups on a walk through a chosen neighborhood focusing on water.
Although not obvious at first, the water theme is present everywhere around the Jardin des Tuileries, designed by Andre Le Notre, a landscape architect, in the 17th century.
Here, artists made rivers come to life through sculptures. The Loire and the Loiret Rivers become a man and a woman.
“Water has always been a problem,” said guide Hugues Meles, explaining that although the Seine river was also used as a sewer and unsafe to drink from.
In 1807, there were only 56 fountains for approximately 647,000 inhabitants. Napoleon built the Canal de l’Ourcq and the Canal St. Martin in 1808, following advice that in order to make Parisians happy, you’d have to give them water.
Outside the garden’s walls, as if laid out on a map, eight statues represent the largest harbor cities in France. Marseille is a woman with grape headgear sitting on a boat, holding an olive tree branch, a symbol of peace and the Mediterranean.
At Place de la Concorde, Meles tells you about the obelisk — a present to Paris from Egypt — and the two fountains that surround it.
Eco-visit
ecovisitparis.com, $113 (80 euros), offered daily. Starting at Place de la Concorde.
If you can spring for it, let Erwann Maizy take you on an air-conditioned visit of the City of Lights in his stylish Prius, recognizable by the colorful print of a gingko biloba tree, the world’s oldest tree.
In the comfort of a hybrid car that zooms silently through the busy intersections, the nature enthusiast points out air sensors that help AIRPARIF, an air monitoring system, measure the quality of the air Parisians breathe daily.
Maizy explains that Le Notre designed the Champs Elysees in 1670 to allow for the sun to set at the end of it. Today, the Arc de Triomphe becomes a frame for the sunsets twice a year — around May 8 and Aug. 1.
On the avenue where crowds gather to see the end of the Tour de France, Maizy also points out the world’s first LED-lit building now owned by French newspaper France-Soir.
With 100,000 trees lining the boulevards, Paris has become the most wooded European city, according to Maizy.
As he drives slowly though the streets to recharge his car battery, he talks about the vertical garden at the Musee du Quai Branly and 50 other gardens most people don’t know about.
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