Journees du Patrimoine Paris

Statue of Female and Sky
Originally uploaded by malias.

This weekend (20th and 21st September 2008) are the journees du patrimoine (National Heritage days) a Europe wide event that offers the chance to visit many national monuments, museums, churches, gardens and important buildings free of charge. In addition a great number of interesting places that are not normally open to the public allow free access on these days only.

If you are in Paris this weekend then you'll have a couple of problems. Firstly you'll be spoilt for choice. The number of interesting places taking part is truly daunting. So chose well. Things that caught my eye include the 19th Century underground hydraulics of the Eiffel Tower and the Elysee Palace and some of the embassies (Russian, Swiss and Polish for example) that are only open on these days.

Second problem is the queues, a friend told me that last year she queued 4 hours to get into one building. This may be exceptional but be aware that you might spend much of these splendid days standing in line.