Tiddy Rowan, author of Art in the City Paris, reveals her favourite small but perfectly formed galleries in the French capital:

1. La Maison Rouge 

Located in a former industrial building, the gallery was conceived by its founder Antoine de Galbert in 2003. The exhibitions are often organised by independent guest curators, providing challenging or controversial shows but nonetheless always notable in their contribution to the current contemporary art scene in Paris. Next door is a branch of Bookstorming - a great haunt for art book lovers.

2. Marian Goodman Gallery

The heavy portal on the rue du Temple is always closed making this treasure easy to miss. Pressing the entry bell beneath the simple bronze name-plaque of Marion Goodman Galerie will reveal one of the most important and prestigious galleries in Paris. The ground floor gallery space runs alongside the right wing of the building naturally lit by several floor to ceiling windows and in one of the basement level galleries is a crypt-like vaulted space where you can view videos of, or about, the artists on show.

The French take chocolate seriously, and Paris is home to several great chocolatiers. Although there are dozens to choose from, the five purveyors we list here are unusually distinguished for excellence and originality.

Pierre Hermé
In his tireless quest for the new, the pastries can sometimes flounder, but the chocolate never wavers. Assortments of dark and milk-chocolate bonbons are worth the splurge.

La Maison du Chocolat
This is the gold standard of chocolate. Robert Linx's silky ganaches are unparalleled in subtlety and flavor. The pastries -- notably the macarons -- are icing on the cake.

April 13, 2005: Few women have 20,000 admirers visit them every day, yet “Mona Lisa” seems positively blasé about it. Ensconced behind 4-centimeter-thick glass, La Joconde, as Leonardo’s iconic painting is known in France, has a high-tech new home in the Louvre’s refurbished Salle des Etats, now renamed the Salle de la Joconde. Redone in tones of beige and lit from above, the room also houses over 50 Venetian Renaissance paintings, including “The Marriage at Cana” by Veronese.