If you travel to Paris, take a day trip to Chartres. This is a medieval town, which has only recently been gaining popular attention. Go before everyone else discovers it. Beautiful cobblestone streets, take a walk around the town and down to the canal, the church dates back to the 12th century. It did not get destroyed or damaged during the Revolution, as it was slated for special consideration to get razed down to the ground so that nothing was left. The local revolutionary committee could not decide how that should be done, argued for 2 years over it, and by that time the will to destroy it had petered out (love the French bureaucracy). If you go during a Feast Day you might be lucky enough to see a procession of the Knights of the Templar - yup - just like in the DaVinci Code. Kind of hokey - but loads of fun.

Chartres, France