I went to Paris with a list of forty things. I did maybe fifteen. Here's what was worth it.
The Musée d'Orsay over the Louvre, if you only have one morning. The big clock window on the fifth floor looks across the Seine to Sacré-Cœur, and the Impressionists are right there. I went back on my last day just to stand at that window again.
The Eiffel Tower is better from the ground than from the top. Get a spot at Trocadéro a few minutes before the hour, after dark. When it starts sparkling, a whole crowd of strangers goes "ohhh" at once. I clapped. Everyone clapped.
Skip the Champs-Élysées and anything that says "skip the line" but has a line. Don't skip a falafel in the Marais, eaten walking.