1. Paris
Something special happens to Paris in wintertime. Without the leafy trees, the boulevards look wider, and the formal gardens appear even more austere. Parisian rooftops seem to meld with the steel-grey skies. On rare occasions when it snows, the bright powdery coating gives the city a dreamy quality.
2. Lyon
The Musée des Beaux-Arts displays masterpieces of European painting from the 15th through the 20th centuries, along with sculptures, antiquities, decorative arts, and graphic arts. The Musée de la Civilisation Gallo-Romaine gives visitors a sense of the ancient Roman city that thrived in the locale that is now Lyon.
