This is a city outside the limits of Paris, a neighbor that has been transformed from industry and rundown buildings into a huge business center. In most of Paris, height limitations mean no skyscrapers, so they were built here in the new town. Some of the architecture is wild, some is boring, and then there is the square arch, the landmark. Sadly there is not much happening on street level, eating and shopping can be found in an underground mall with the big train station.

This event took place for just a few days last year for the first time, but this year it lasted for four weeks due to the interest generated. Given the astonishing success, it will have to last several months next year. I'll start with the only criticism: the directions to get to the place of the visit are very imprecise and we discussed this with other visitors who had had the same difficulties as us. The space, located under the La Défense square, is immense, it is a bit the antithesis of the surface with its setting worthy of a science fiction film, here we are rather in an immense prehistoric cave, in concrete, certainly, but just as dark, deserted, devoid of traces of life, even hostile! When you go down there, there is a sort of muffled noise, a wave that you might believe to be unreal, a latent vibration because of the underground highways, the metro or RER cars passing close to this technical void. It is a space which should have been allocated to a station whose construction was abandoned, it is also called the cathedral. The visit was made possible thanks to agreements between the consortium which manages La Défense, the town hall and this association of artists. The visit lasts more than an hour and a half and we go from virtual spaces to photo exhibitions of abandoned places, from installations with recycled materials to an interactive space, from a cut-out paper passage to wall frescoes and everything is beautiful , surprising or interesting. The visit ends with the vision of Moretti's "monster". An essential visit for lovers of unusual, different, exotic places....

La Defense is a bit out of the center city area, but an excellent location for access, food and some parks. I stayed in Puteaux, area right next to La Defense. It doesn't take long to get into center city from the La Defense Metro stop. Comfortable walk across the Seine to La Bagatelle and Bois de Bologne, lovely gardens, the Louis Vuitton Foundation (a very cool experience, by the way). And, of course, excellent patisseries on every block. A great place to stay if you don't want to be in the middle of the Paris crowds but near enough to enjoy everything in the city.

I think that if you have more time in Paris, you should visit this region. It is totally different, very modern, and has a modern Arc de Triomphe from where you can see the original completely aligned. If you only have a few days in Parias, you don't need to go, but if you have time, you should check it out. Just take the yellow metro line to get there.

I went to Paris La Défense for the only reason to see the place where Jean Michel Jarre had done his concert in 1990 on the national holiday of July 14th! The ark is really huge and imposing! At the top level you can see the tall buildings and the arena right next door. It is a more modern and contemporary district! On the other side there is a huge shopping centre.

Financial district full of skyscrapers, hotels and offices. Its biggest icon is the Grande Arche de la Défense. It has a huge shopping center, several sculptures (by Calder, Miró...) and now at Christmas a gigantic Christmas market.