The Louvre Museum, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Opéra are three of the tourist magnets that France treasures. They are attractions that target travelers who base their travel on their own interest. They may not be as popular as the Eiffel Tower or Arc de Triomphe but they are icons on their own rights. 
The Louvre Museum, or Musée du Louvre, is a mecca for art lovers. Visiting Musée du Louvre is on the bucket list of every person in love with art. Whether paintings, sculptures, or decorative arts, Musée du Louvre has something to offer for every artist. If you want to go inside the museum and see all the historic and iconic arts with your own eyes, then be prepared to spend a good hour or more of your time standing in queue. We are not that into art so we chose to spend our time somewhere else and passed up going inside the museum.
If in case you went to Paris specifically to go inside Musée du Louvre, then you probably have something in mind that you target to see. This is no surprise since the number of iconic sculptures and paintings inside Musée du Louvre is unbelievable. The Winged Victory of Samothrace(Nike of Samothrace) and the Aphrodite of Milos(Venus the Milo) are two of the most iconic sculptures that are housed inside Musée du Louvre. Michaelangelo's Dying Slave sculpture also have Musée du Louvre as its home.
Musée du Louvre also boasts paintings from well-known painters. To name a few, works of Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, and Eugène Delacroix are on display in the Louvre. As most of you know, the main star of Musée du Louvre is Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, so if you're gonna look for it while inside the museum, just look for the display with the biggest crowd.
The Louvre Museum is also not just about the art it houses. Its architecture may well just be the best art that it features. This is the reason why we came here even we did not plan to go inside from the beginning. From every angle, the Louvre features detailed sculptures on every walls of its building.
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| Front facade of Notre Dame Cathedral |
Another treasured tourist attraction of France, the Notre Dame Cathedral has found its way to the pop culture thanks to Disney's animated on-screen version of Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame. We were not that surprised that there is a long line going inside Notre Dame but it was kinda surprising to see that a number of them are kinds and young adults. As we take pictures of ourselves with the cathedral in the background, that's when we heard the name "Quasimodo" being mentioned by the most of them.
When it comes to musical arts, the French will always bring up the Opéra to the conversation. Also known as Palais Garnier and Opéra Garnier, the Opéra is the home of Paris Opera Ballet. The Opéra is one of the most famous opera house in the world. Not only because it is one of the main landmarks of Paris, but also because it found itself as the setting in Gaston Leroux's world famous novel, The Phantom of the Opera. The film adaptation of the novel that starred Gerard Butler also helped in boosting the building's popularity.
The Opéra is easily accessible by train. If you're using RER, the nearest station is Auber Station. Line RER A stops in this station. Using the Metro, disembarking on the Opéra Station brings you right in the Opéra.