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Paris has become more environmentally conscious and respectful of other cultures, while remaining as charmingly French as ever.

o visit the City of Light after an absence of 12 years is to find it ever more brilliant, illuminated by an hourly lightshow of electronic sparkles that play across the Eiffel Tower. Brilliant and smarter, too: the brightened Cathedral of Notre Dame has been bleached by lasers aimed to sear off centuries of soot; public buses run on clean natural gas; high speed trains have cut travel time to Disneyland Paris and Versailles in half; and the rooftops commemorated in Rene Clair’s classic “Sous les toits de Paris” (1930) lie under solar panels or fields of greenery.

Because we were Boomer parents toting a sophisticated child who last visited Paris as a toddler, we let our 14-year-old guide the itinerary on a recent weekend visit that even included a bicycle tour of the city. 

New Museums – Quick! On to the Next

A teen’s attention span dictated a quick visit to several museums, a feat made less financially crippling by the Carte de Musees multiple-entry pass. The Musee Picasso (33/1/42 71 25 21) was as our son remembered, with its famous bronze goat out on a back lawn, now shared by a café with organic produce and health foods. Because of its compact size and rich, colorful collection spanning the lifetime of the Spanish master who spent most of it in France, this private-mansion-turned-gallery is a good place to begin with kids.

Proud of its dominant economic role in the European Union, France is embracing multiculturalism, an aspect celebrated with great fanfare by the opening of the Musee du Quai Branly ( 33/1/56 61 70 00) collection of the arts of Africa, Oceania and Asia Pacific. Long, winding galleries line four buildings, including a contemporary shoebox of glass and steel. The Branly is designed by French architect Jean Nouvel (of Musee d’Orsay fame) and filled with volcanic sculpture from Easter Island, carved masks from Africa, Asian ceramics, costumes, and thousands of other items from many collections, which didn’t hold our son’s attention for very long.
 
However, the Eiffel Tower ( 33/1/ 44 11 23 23), the city’s gem and crowning edifice of the 7eme arrondissement, did. With only a weekend’s visit, our son agreed to abbreviate the Eiffel Tower visit to the second stage of the sightseeing decks, because getting to the top level, which is glassed in  -- and not as spectacular in his aging parents’ memory -- required a one-hour wait to change elevators.

Do 14-year-olds want to walk to the top as we once did? No way. But they are delighted by the views, pleased to stroll the Champs de Mars, and eager to stop in one of the cafés serving Orangina and fresh crepes with Nutella.

The Louvre ( 33/1/40 20 53 17) is a must-see no matter how long you’re in Paris, but it is mobbed with fans looking for clues to “The Da Vinci Code.” Expect 30- to 40-minute waits at the main glass pyramidal entrance so prominently featured in the film. Returning museum-goers will be surprised by the velvet ropes and extensive security designed to keep traffic flowing smoothly through the Denon Wing, which houses the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa herself.

We wanted very much to visit L’Orangerie ( 33/1/44 77 80 07), which has just reopened after an extensive renovation and rehanging of its Impressionist collection.  But with only a weekend, one cannot pause for a 90-minute wait, no matter the museum.