Like a building turned inside out—or some benign factory as drawn in a comic book—the Centre Georges Pompidou’s glass façade reveals its massive colorful ducting and infrastructure. Big blue tubes pipe air, the green ones hold water, and the yellow are stuffed with electrical and communications cables. Escalators in translucent tubes are arteries that transport people on a zigzagging ride up five floors. The red elevator adds zip to the price of admission as does a trip for the view from the avante garde restaurant terrace on top, Le Georges. Having the infrastructure hanging on the exterior, aside from being visually amusing, allows for a huge amount of interior space—200,000 square feet. Entrance to the expansive foyer is free. All the big guns are exhibited, including Picasso, Matisse, Magritte, Miro, Dali, Paul Klee, Calder, Kadinsky, and Jackson Pollock.

Your visit is sure to exhilarate as well as exhaust you. The Stravinsky Fountain just outside or the numerous surrounding cafes will rejuvenate and get you motoring the neighborhood for more adventure. Consult the pages of your No Worries Paris guidebook and head down the Rue Rosiers.

Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou
19 Rue Beaubourg
01 44 78 12 33