Ah, Paris. Hemingway remembered his blissful impoverished life here. Revolutions in art were created by poverty-stricken young artists. Today, though, the bohemian lifestyle has been chased out of the center of Paris, with traditional neighborhoods gentrifying as property values rise. But what is free for the traveler?

The best of Paris is free, in long walks on the quays of the Seine, in Jardin du Luxembourg or Jardin des Plantes, for example. Or for the price of a metro ticket, bus rides across Paris, as on the number 63 bus, give you a vast panorama of monuments, best taken at night when the lights shimmer in eerie blue over the Seine. The famous cemetery Père Lachaise, with its celebrity list that includes Jim Morrison, is free. And lectures at the prestigious College de France, presented by world-renowned scholars, are free (5^th arrondissement, adjacent to the Sorbonne, on rue des Ecoles).

But walking in Paris takes many forms, for example, on the tiny winding streets in the 6th and 7^th arrondissements, between Blvd. St. Germain and the Seine. Narrow cobble stone streets also wind through heights of Montmartre with its artistic history and in Belleville, another village in the city of Paris, as well as in the charming but more gentrified Marais.

And what many visitors don’t realize is that there are excellent free museums, too—nearly all those run by the city of Paris. These include the Musée d’art Moderne at Trocadero and Victor Hugo’s house in the lovely Place des Vosges in the Marais.

My favorite on the list is the Musée Carnavalet, an enormous collection that traces the history of the Paris from ancient times, housed in a beautiful private mansion. This is where the Marquise de Sévigné lived, whose letters to her daughter give us an intimate and gossipy view of 17^th century Paris. At the basement level are models, statuary and relics from the early settlement of Paris through Roman occupation. Then epoch by epoch the history of Paris unfolds in 100 galleries which include entire art nouveau rooms, murals taken from hotels of years gone by, shop signs and street lamps, and endless paintings of Paris depicting great battles, revolutions in the streets, families aristocratic and poor, and Parisians of every variety.

Between the Seine and the Champs Elysees is the city's Petit Palais, an exquisite beaux art building housing paintings, sculptures, Roman and Greek art and Russian icons in its permanent collection. In the Marais is the fine Cognac-Jay, containing important 18^th century art collected by department store magnates. Also of exceptional quality and free is the Musée Cernuschi, which houses Asian art in a spare and elegant setting befitting the ancient pieces of its collection, located on the romantic Parc Monceau.

But budget travelers need not avoid the best known museums, for another well kept secret is the long list of other Paris museums that are free the first Sunday of every month, which includes the Louvre. Despite the long lines outside the Pyramid of the Louvre, you move steadily into the building without admission fees, and many of the lesser known galleries of the Louvre may be nearly empty in spite of the crush in front of the Mona Lisa.

Other world class museums on this list include another favorite of mine, the Musée Guimet, an exquisite Asian museum with unusual collections from countries like Afghanistan. Nepal and Cambodia, in the plush 16th arrondissement. In the shadow of the Eiffel Tower is the quai Branly, a museum of African, Asian and American art, has attracted attention for its exotic museumship and unusual architecture. In the Latin Quarter is the Musée de Cluny, the museum of the Middle Ages that houses the beloved Unicorn tapestries. Across the Seine from the Louvre is the Musée d’Orsay of 19^th century art, most famous for the Impressionist collection (a gallery that is always packed). The Musée de l’Orangerie in the Jardin de Tuilleries houses the great Monet water lily paintings, hypnotic walls of color. In the Marais, the fascinating Picasso Museum reflects many facets of the genius. Close to Napoleon's Tomb in the Invalides is, not least at all, the wonderful Rodin Museum, whose garden of Rodin statues is always just one euro.

And the churches of Paris are free. Notre Dame is the city's cathedral at its center, and remains emblematic of great gothic architecture (France's contribution to art) though its entrance is encumbered with tourist desks. Renaissance architecture is found near Les Halles at St. Eustache with its enormous barrel vaults, and St. Germain l'Auxerrois, across the street from the Louvre, from which the call for the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre was sounded. St. Severin in the winding streets of the Latin Quarter has uniquely architecture, the height of the flamboyant gothic. But the churches of Paris are far too numerous to count!

So I urge you to come and explore the public paths of Paris, where it costs nothing to meander and enjoy the old city's bounties. Despite its reputation for luxury items, the best of Paris is free!