The Opera, Parc Monceau and the Chaillot district

Starting point and access: Place de l'Opéra.
- Metro - Lines 3, 7 and 8. Take exit 1 Place de l'Opéra.
- RER - Line A (Auber station, follow the connection to the metro).
- Bus - Lines 20, 21, 22, 27, 29, 32, 45, 52, 66, 68, 95.

(S) When you exit the metro station, which is in the middle of the square, turn right to cross at the pedestrian crossing. Turn right immediately at the corner of a restaurant, then left onto Rue Auber and walk along the Palais Garnier. At the next intersection, turn sharply left onto Rue Scribe. At the end, turn right onto Boulevard des Capucines.

Take the^first right, Rue Édouard VII. Cross the square adorned with an equestrian statue of the king and enter under a porch. At the fork under the porch, turn right into Square de l'Opéra Louis Jouvet (equestrian statue).

At the end, turn right onto Rue Boudreau. Immediately cross Rue Auber at the pedestrian crossing and follow it to the left. At the next intersection, take the^second right onto Rue de Caumartin. At the traffic lights, cross Boulevard Haussmann, continue along Rue de Caumartin and go under the passageway that connects the two buildings of a famous department store.

(1) At the crossroads, turn left onto Rue de Provence. Then cross Rue du Havre and, at the end of the street, turn left to cross Boulevard Haussmann again. Follow the boulevard to the right and take the^first left onto Rue de l'Arcade.

Cross Rue des Mathurins (note the clock and decoration on the building on the left) and continue straight ahead. At No. 34, turn right into Passage Puteaux (covered). At the exit, turn right onto Rue Pasquier and cross Rue des Mathurins again.

(2) At No. 36, turn left into Square Louis XVI and you will find yourself in front of the pediment of the Chapelle expiatoire. Go around the chapel on the left, exit the square onto Rue des Mathurins and follow it to the right. At the crossroads, turn right onto Rue d'Anjou (note the building and its decorations on the left-hand corner). When you reach the chevet of the chapel, turn left onto Rue Lavoisier.

Cross Boulevard Malesherbes (pedestrian crossing on the right-hand side) and note the Saint-Augustin church on your right. Continue along Rue Lavoisier and, at the end, turn right onto Rue d'Astorg. At the next crossroads, turn left onto Rue La Boétie. Go straight ahead and cross Rue Cambacérès.

(3) At the next traffic lights, turn right onto Rue de Miromesnil. Cross Boulevard Haussmann and continue straight ahead on Rue de Miromesnil. At the next intersection, take the^second left onto Rue Threilard. At the fork, turn right onto Rue Corvetto. Cross Rue Maleville on the left-hand side. At the next intersection, cross Rue de Lisbonne and continue along Rue de Vézelay.

At the end, turn right onto Rue de Monceau, then left onto Boulevard Malesherbes. Then take the^first left onto Avenue Vélasquez, passing through an imposing golden gate.

(4) Enter Parc Monceau and immediately turn right onto Allée Michel Berger. After about 100 metres, turn sharply left towards a stone arch. Before the arch, turn right towards the colonnade at the water's edge. At the foot of the colonnade, turn left and walk along the pond on your right.

You will come out onto a wide path. Turn right twice to cross the bridge over the end of the pond. At the end of the bridge, go straight ahead, passing the bust of Maupassant on your right. Then turn left.

Cross a wide path (roundabout on the right) and continue straight ahead. Walk along a rollerblading track on your right, then a playground. Cross Allée de la Comtesse de Ségur and continue straight ahead.

At the^first fork, after about thirty metres (water point), turn left. At the^second fork, which comes up very quickly (large plane tree in the middle), turn right. Ignore a path on the right and, at the^third fork (columns), turn left. You will come to a wide path; follow it to the right to leave the park.

(5) Follow Avenue Ruysdaël and immediately turn right onto Rue Murillo. Turn left at the^first street, Rue Rembrandt. Cross Rue de Lisbonne and you will arrive at Place Gérard Oury (Loo house, large red pagoda).

Cross Rue de Courcelles and continue straight ahead on Rue de Monceau. At the end, cross Boulevard Haussmann in two stages, then turn right. At the next traffic lights, turn left onto Rue de Washington, then immediately left onto Rue d'Artois.

Cross Rue de Berri and continue straight ahead. At the next intersection, turn right onto Rue Frédéric Bastiat. At the end, turn right onto Rue Paul Baudry.

(6) At the end, turn left onto Rue de Ponthieux, then right to rejoin Rue La Boétie. Cross the Champs-Élysées at the traffic lights and follow the avenue to the left for about 100 metres. Take the^first right onto Rue Marbeuf.

At the next intersection, turn right onto Rue François^Ier. Then take the^first left onto Rue de Cerisoles. At the end, turn right onto Rue Clément Marot, then left onto Rue Pierre Charron.

(7) Cross Avenue Georges V (note the American Cathedral on the left) and continue along Rue Pierre^Ier de Serbie. Cross Avenue Marceau, follow it to the right and walk along the front of the Saint-Pierre de Chaillot church.

Then turn sharply left onto Rue de Chaillot and walk past the side of the church. At the next crossroads, turn right onto Rue Georges Bizet. At the end, follow Avenue d'Iéna to the left for about 50 metres. Cross the avenue at the traffic lights in two stages and you will come out at Place des États-Unis at the foot of the monument to American volunteers.

(8) Then turn right and follow Avenue d'Iéna. Next, take the^first left onto Rue Galilée (note the sculptures framing the gate at No. 30).

At the end, cross Place des États-Unis again and go around Square Thomas Jefferson on the left (monument to La Fayette and Washington, view of the Eiffel Tower). Continue along Rue Galilée and cross Rue de l'Amiral Hamelin (beautiful building on the right). At the end, turn left onto Avenue Kléber.

(9) At the traffic lights, cross the avenue to the right and follow Rue Boissière. At the next crossroads, turn left onto Rue Lauriston. Continue to the end of the street. Cross Rue Saint-Didier and turn left onto Avenue Raymond Poincaré. Continue straight ahead along the avenue until you reach Place du Trocadéro.

Start walking around the square on the right. After crossing Avenue Georges Mandel, walk along the wall of Passy Cemetery and pass by the monument honouring soldiers who fought in World War I. Continue walking until you reach the underground station (E).

To return home:
- Metro: lines 6 and 9.

Good trainers are sufficient for this urban route.

Toilets and water fountains in public gardens (marked on the map). Bars, restaurants and shops along the route.

A detailed map is required (at least the one accompanying this description).

Public garden opening hours:
Square Louis XVI:
- Opening: 8:00 a.m. on weekdays, 9:00 a.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
- Closing time: 5.30pm to 8.30pm, depending on the season. See detailed opening hours.
Parc Monceau:
- Opening: 7:00 a.m. every day.
- Closing time: 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., depending on the season. See detailed opening hours.

Hike completed by the author on 28 November 2018.

From Place de l'Opéra (S) to Square Louis XVI (2):
- Palais Garnier (1875), designed by architect Charles Garnier (1825-1898). It was long the only building to house an opera house in Paris, before the construction of the Opéra Bastille.
- Place Édouard VII: equestrian statue of the king, theatre of the same name.
- Square de l'Opéra Louis Jouvet: statue of the poet riding Pegasus and the Théâtre de l'Athénée, of which Louis Jouvet was director.
- Le Printemps department store buildings (1865-1874), at the intersection of Rue de Caumartin and Boulevard Haussmann.
- Former hotel of the Compagnie des Wagons-Lits (1903), at the intersection of Rue de l'Arcade and Rue des Mathurins: large clock and corner decoration.

From Square Louis XVI (2) to Parc Monceau (4):
- Expiatory Chapel (1826). Chapel built on the site of the former Madeleine cemetery where Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were buried in 1973 after their execution (they were transferred to the Basilica of Saint-Denis in 1815, during the Restoration). The chapel is open to visitors (€6 per person in November 2018).
- At 21 Rue La Boétie, the former site of the Rosenberg art gallery. During the occupation, the building was requisitioned by the Nazis to set up an anti-Semitic propaganda office.
- At 23 Rue La Boétie, the painter Pablo Picasso had his studio from 1918 to 1937.

From Parc Monceau (4) to Rue de Ponthieux (6):
- Parc Monceau, laid out between the second half of the 18th century and the second half of the 19th century. It features various statues, a naumachia, a pond bordered by a colonnade from an unfinished building in Saint-Denis, and a rotunda, a remnant of the Farmers-General wall.
- Rue Murillo, lined with mansions, including two at numbers 6 and 8 in the neo-Louis XIII style.
- Maison Loo, named after its former owner who, in 1925, had a mansion converted into this pagoda-shaped house.

From Rue de Ponthieux (6) to Place des États-Unis (8):
- Views of the Arc de Triomphe.
- Saint-Pierre de Chaillot Church (1938), a Byzantine-inspired concrete church. Open to visitors during the day (except during services).
- Monument to American Volunteers (1923), Place des États-Unis. The monument depicts a "Poilu" and a "Sammy" shaking hands in front of a winged victory. It is topped by a statue representing a soldier with the features of the American poet Alan Seeger, born in New York in 1888, who enlisted in 1914 and died in the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

From Place des États-Unis (8) to Place du Trocadéro (E):
- Monument to La Fayette and Washington, Square Jefferson. Bronze work by Bartholdi, donated in 1895 by the United States to France.
- Views of the Eiffel Tower.
- At 30 Rue Galilée, a Neo-Renaissance building from 1895 with a doorway framed by caryatids.
- At the intersection of Rue Galilée and Rue de l'Amiral Hamelin, a decorated building from 1883.
- At 93 Rue Lauriston, a building that housed the Gestapo headquarters in France during the occupation.
- Place du Trocadéro, monument in tribute to the soldiers of the 1914-18 war along the wall of the Passy cemetery. Monument by sculptor Paul Landowski (1875-1961), inaugurated in 1956.