Visiting Paris France – A Travel Guide

Paris is often referred to as the ‘City of Romance’. And rightly so.

There are few places in the world as romantic as the Champs Elysees late into the evening, particularly at Christmas when the lights are twinkling through the trees and music can be heard escaping from the various cafes, cinemas and boutiques that line the street.

The french themselves have a compelling sense of style and so it’s not surprising that Haute Couture and Art Noveau originated in Paris and where much of the worlds fashion industry still takes its inspiration from.

Further across town you have the Eiffel Tower. When Gustav Eiffel unfurled the French flag from it in 1889, he declared that the French now had the tallest flagpole in the world. It remained the tallest structure in the world until 1930 when the Chrysler Building was built in New York.

As for art galleries and museums, Paris abounds in them – and if you only have time to visit one then it has to be the Louvre, home of the Mona Lisa and the setting for the preposterously inaccurate ‘The DaVinci Code’ – a ripping good yarn though!

Paris is over 2,000 years old. Gauls of the Parisii tribe settled there and founded a fishing village on an island in the river Seine that is the present-day ‘Ile de la Cité’ – the center around which Paris developed. Paris was known as Lutece in ancient times.

In 987 the Count of Paris became king of France and under his successors the city’s position as the nation’s capital became established. The people of Paris first declared themselves an independent commune under the leadership of Etienne Marcel in 1355-58 and stormed the Bastille in 1789 during the French Revolution.

This streak of Parisian independence is evident today with Parisian mannerisms being noticably brusque or lofty. As one Parisian commented to me some time ago – ‘We’re aggressive with each other at work, and then in the evening we go to a nice restaurant and take abuse from the waiters.’ Be warned!

The Place des Vosges, the oldest square in Paris, is regarded as one of the most beautiful squares in the world and is worth a visit.

It was built by King Henry IV in 1605.

Tourists and Parisians alike sit beneath the horse chestnet trees and gaze at the crumbling red brick architecture that surrounds the square.