A quick survey of the Paris Métro map indicates that the most sprawling conglomerate of Métro and commuter rail stations surrounds the Gare St. Lazare. The transfer tunnels make it possible to walk underground from St. Augustin to Opéra, a distance of 1.2 miles as the crow flies. I did it so you don't have to. Here's a record of the journey in 25 photos.

Carnival in the Jardin des Tuileries, Paris.

Fondation Cartier, Paris, designed by Jean Nouvel.
Architects who blur the line between inside and outside really confuse the heck out of the birds. Nouvel also designed the Institut du Monde Arabe.

For the foundation's current exhibit, "Pain Couture," Jean-Paul Gaultier hired a team of expert bakers to remake his greatest fashion hits in bread. This may be the most French thing I have seen in France.

Fête de la Musique, Paris.
On the longest day of the year, a celebration of all kinds of music in all kinds of places.

I'm always too slow to grab topical URLs: mypetgoat.com.

TGV, La Rochelle to Paris.
1) Switch camera to 'continuous shooting' mode. 2) Point it out the train window. 3) Shoot. 4) Edit heavily.

The Isle d'Aix and Fort Boyard, Charent-Maritime, France.

La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, France.

La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, France.

The H*lt*n, Paris.

06.26 Update: This page is now #1 on Yahoo and AltaVista in a search for "paris h*lt*n photos" and peaked at #24 in a Google search for "paris h*lt*n." The joke isn't funny anymore so I'm obscuring a certain word on this page to ward off behind-the-curve p*rn-seekers.

Assemblée Nationale, Paris.
Multilayered scrolling projections in honor of the D-Day anniversary.

Deyrolle, Paris.

The first floor sells mostly high-end gardening tools. I asked the woman behind the counter if there was anything upstairs.

"Oh yes," she said. "Many strange things."

There is a gallery with these photos and 13 more.