Paris is for You

By Wannagoto Paris

This guide is the friend you need to welcome you in the city of lights and help you to discover Paris the best way you can.

Welcome in Paris ! Enjoy !

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wannagoto Paris
• Release date: Jan 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781507084083

Book preview

So welcome ! 

Bienvenue à Paris !

This guide is your friend !

It will share with you everything you should know to discover the city of light.  

Paris is known thru numerous iconic landmarks, such as The Eiffel Tower, The Champs-Elysées, The Arc de Triomphe, Montmartre and the Sacré-Cœur, The Notre-Dame Cathedral, The Louvre museum, The Moulin Rouge, The Lido...

Paris, it’s also luxurious fashion designers or cosmetics such as Louis Vuiton, Chanel, Dior, Yves Saint-Laurent, Guerlain, Lancôme, L'Oréal...

Paris is more than that. Paris is the ideal place for all lovers, for friends, for family holiday.

Paris is for you !

Let me introduce you to PARIS

Paris is the capital of France. The President and the Government of the country are located in Paris. The city is in the north of the country, about 500 km (300 miles) from Germany, 500 km (300 miles) from Bretagne, 250 km (150 miles) from Belgium and 800 km (500 miles) from Spain.

Latitude Nord : 48° 50' - Longitude Est : 2° 20'

The first thing you have to notice is that Paris is a circular city with a 10 kilometers ( 6 miles) diameter. Why ? Because Paris is an old city that was born on the river Seine more than 2000 years ago and that expanded thru the centuries as a fruit develops around its core.

In 52 BCE, it was the Celto-Roman settlement of Lutetia on the Île de la Cité, the island in the Seine currently occupied by the Cathedral Notre Dame and on the left bank of the Seine, in what is now called the Latin Quarter.

Numerous narrow streets from the medevial period can be seen in the districts around Notre Dame, in the 4th or the 5th arrondissement while modern districts are located outside the center of the city.

Traces of this concentric growth are still visible today: the Grands Boulevards for example are on the site of a former limit of the city. Saint-Denis and Saint-Martin doors are remnants of this limit. Rue Saint-Martin extends beyond the Porte Saint-Martin under the name of rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin. The same goes for rue Saint-Denis. Rue Saint-Honoré obeys the same rule becoming the rue de Faubourg Saint-Honoré in extending to the West. Faubourgs were a kind of suburbs.

The city is crossed by the river Seine which flows from East to West and goes into the English channel at 200 km (120 miles) downstream. The right bank, North, is home to the Louvre museum, the Tuileries, the Opera, the Champs Elysees. The left bank, South, is home to the Latin quarter, Saint Germain des Prés and Montparnasse, but also Les Invalides, the Champs-de-Mars and the Eiffel Tower. Not less than 37 bridges and footbridges reach both sides of the river.

Paris is not a flat city. There are hills that urbanization has made it difficult to perceive. The latin quarter for example is on the side of the montagne Sainte-Geneviève. A part of the 13th arrondissement covers the Butte aux Cailles. You probably know the famous Butte Montmartre, etc...

––––––––

Picture

The city of Paris is divided into 20 districts called arrondissements, numbered from 1 to 20 in a clockwise spiral from the centre of the city.

Central arrondissements are little extended but contain often numerous iconic monuments while outlying arrondissements are huge and rather residential.

Each arrondissement has its own unique character, its own colour and soul. I will give you an overview in the chapter it’s good to know at the end of this book. You may find pictures on the Facebook page "La