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Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais

After more than a decade of renovations, the main gallery under the soaring glass roof of the Grand Palais is a favorite show venue for fashion houses like Dior and Chanel and exhibits like “Egypt's Sunken Treasures.” As impressive as this turn-of-the-last-century structure is from the outside, the view from inside the nave of the main gallery is nothing short of inspirational. Built for the 1900 World's Fair, the delicate 200-foot-high nave is surrounded by vaults that seem impossibly high; it's all constructed of tens of thousands of glass panes suspended by an intricate ironwork frame that opens to the sky. The Grand Palais is also one of the most recent major monuments to up its hip factor with the opening of Mini Palais (www.minipalais.com), a restaurant and lounge that opens onto a heated, columned terrace overlooking the Pont Alexandre III. One of its outdoor settees makes a memorable spot for a drink.