Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Paris shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Paris offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Paris at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Paris? Wrong! If the Paris is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Paris then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Paris? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Paris and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Paris wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Paris then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Paris site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Paris, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Paris, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{French commune|native_name = Ville de Paris|common_name = Paris|image = |caption = The Eiffel Tower in Paris, as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro.]
(Latin: "Tossed by the waves, she does not sink")]|departement = Paris (75)|mayor = Bertrand Delanoë|mandat = 2001-2008|subdivisions_entry = [Administrative division|subdivisions = Arrondissements of Paris|area = 86.9 Excluding Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes of [France. It is situated on the Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France (region) Regions of France ("Région parisienne"). The City of Paris has an estimated population of 2,153,600 within its administrative limits. The Paris unité urbaine (similar to the North American "urban area") is an area of unbroken urban growth that extends well beyond the administrative city limits and has a population of 9.93 million. A commuter belt around the unité urbaine completes the Paris aire urbaine (similar to the North American "metropolitan area") that, with its population of 12 million, is one of the most heavily populated areas in Europe.

An important settlement for more than two millennia, Paris is today one of the world's leading business and cultural centers, and its influence in politics, education, entertainment, Mass media, fashion, science and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major Global city.Global_city#GaWC_Inventory_of_World_Cities.2C_1999Global_city#GaWC_Leading_World_Cities.2C_2004 The Paris Region (Île-de-France (region)) is France's foremost centre of economic activity. With €500.8 billion (US$628.9 billion), it produced more than a quarter of the gross domestic product (GDP) of France in 2006. La Défense, the largest purpose-built business district in Europe, hosts the headquarters of almost half of the major French companies and of fifteen of the world's 100 largest companies. Paris also hosts many international organizations such as UNESCO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the International Chamber of Commerce and the informal Paris Club.

Paris is the most popular tourist destination in the world, with over 30 million foreign visitors per year. There are numerous iconic landmarks among its many attractions, along with world famous institutions and popular parks.

Etymology The name Paris, pronounced in English language and in French language, derives from that of its pre-Roman-era inhabitants, the Gaulish tribe known as the Parisii (France). The city was called Lutetia () during the first- to sixth-century Roman occupation, but the present name began to replace this towards the end of that period.

Paris has many nicknames, but its most famous is 'The City of Light' (La Ville-lumière), a name it owes both to its fame as a center of education and ideas and its early adoption of street-lighting. Paris since the early 20th century has also been known in Parisian slang as Paname (; , i.e. "I'm from Paname"), slang name that has been regaining favour with young people in recent years.

Paris's inhabitants are known in English as "Parisians" ( or ) and as Parisiens () in French language. Parisians are often pejoratively called Parigots () by those living outside the Paris Region, but this is a term sometimes considered endearing by Parisians themselves.

See wikt:Paris#Translations for the name of Paris in various languages other than English and French.

History Early beginnings The earliest archeological and rather detailed signs of permanent habitation in the Paris area date from around 4200 Common Era. the area near the river Seine was settled from around 250 BCE by the Parisii (France), a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, who were known as boatsmen and traders. The Roman Empire conquered the Paris basin in 52 BCE, with a permanent settlement by the end of the same century on the Rive Gauche Montagne Sainte-Geneviève and the Île de la Cité island. The Gallo-Roman town was originally called Lutetia, but later Gallicised to Lutèce. It expanded greatly over the following centuries, becoming a prosperous city with a forum, palaces, baths, temples, theatres and an amphitheatre. The collapse of the Roman empire and the third-century Germanic invasions sent the city into a period of decline. By 400 CE Lutèce was largely abandoned by its inhabitants and was little more than a garrison town entrenched into the hastily fortified central island. The city reclaimed its original appellation of "Paris" towards the end of the Romans occupation.

Middle ages castle from the 15th century Très Riches Heures du Duc de BerryAround Anno Domini 500, Paris was the capital of the Franks Merovingian Clovis I, who commissioned the first Saint-Etienne and its first abbey dedicated to his contemporary, later patron saint of the city, Genevieve. On the death of Clovis, the Frankish kingdom was divided, and Paris became the capital of a much smaller sovereign state. By the time of the Carolingian dynasty (9th century), Paris was little more than a feudal county stronghold. The Counts of Paris gradually rose to prominence and eventually wielded greater power than the Kings of Western Francia. Odo, Count of Paris was elected king in place of the incumbent Charles the Fat, namely for the fame he gained in his defence of Paris during the Viking siege (Siege of Paris (885-886)). Although the Île de la Cité had survived the Viking attacks, most of the unprotected Rive Gauche city was destroyed; rather than rebuild there, after drying marshlands to the north of the island, Paris began to expand onto the Rive Droite. In 987 AD, Hugh Capet, Count of Paris, was elected King of France, founding the Capetian dynasty which would raise Paris to become France's capital.

From 1190, King Philip II of France enclosed Paris on both banks with a wall that had the Louvre as its western fortress and in 1200 chartered the University of Paris which brought visitors from across Europe. It was during this period that the city developed a spatial distribution of activities that can still be seen: the central island housed government and ecclesiastical institutions, the left bank became a scholastic centre with the University and colleges, while the right bank developed as the centre of commerce and trade around the central Les Halles marketplace.

Paris lost its position as seat of the French realm while occupied by the English-allied Burgundy during the Hundred Years' War, but regained its title when Charles VII of France reclaimed the city in 1437; although Paris was capital once again, the Crown preferred to remain in its Loire Valley castles. During the French Wars of Religion, Paris was a stronghold of the Catholic League (French), culminating in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre (1572). King Henry IV of France re-established the royal court in Paris in 1594 after he captured the city from the Catholic party. During the Fronde, Parisians rose in rebellion and the royal family fled the city (1648). King Louis XIV of France then moved the royal court permanently to Versailles in 1682. A century later, Paris was the centre stage for the French Revolution, with the Storming of the Bastille in 1789 and the 10th of August (French Revolution) of the monarchy in 1792.

Nineteenth century The Industrial Revolution, the French Second Empire, and the Belle Époque brought Paris the greatest development in its history. From the 1840s, rail transport allowed an unprecedented flow of migrants into Paris attracted by employment in the new industries in the suburbs. The city underwent a massive renovation under Napoleon III and his préfet Baron Haussmann, who Haussmann's renovation of Paris of narrow-winding medieval streets to create the network of wide avenues and neo-classical façades of modern Paris, with the added benefit that in case of future revolts or revolutions, artillery and rifles could be utilised in crowd control.

Cholera epidemics in 1832 and 1849 affected the population of Paris — the 1832 epidemic alone claimed 20,000 of the then population of 650,000. Paris also suffered greatly from the Siege of Paris ending the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), and the ensuing civil war Commune of Paris (1871) killed thousands and sent many of Paris's administrative centres (and city archives) up in flames.

Paris recovered rapidly from these events to host the famous Universal Expositions of the late nineteenth century. The Eiffel Tower was built for the French Revolution centennial Exposition Universelle (1889), as a "temporary" display of architectural engineering prowess but remained the world's tallest building until 1930, and is the city's best-known landmark. The first line of the Paris Métro opened for the Exposition Universelle (1900) and was an attraction in itself for visitors from the world over. Paris's World's Fair years also consolidated its position in the tourist industry and as an attractive setting for international technology and trade shows.

Twentieth century During World War I, Paris was at the forefront of the war effort, having been spared a German invasion by the French and British victory at the First Battle of the Marne in 1914. In 1918-1919, it was the scene of Allies of World War I victory parades and peace negotiations. In the Interwar period Paris was famed for its cultural and artistic communities and its nightlife. The city became a gathering place of artists from around the world, from exiled Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and Spanish painters Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí to American writer Ernest Hemingway. In June 1940, five weeks after the start of the Battle of France, Paris fell to German occupation forces who remained there until Liberation of Paris in August of 1944. After the Normandy invasion Paris waited for liberation. Central Paris endured World War II practically unscathed, as there were no strategic targets for bombers (train stations in central Paris are terminal stations; major factories were located in the suburbs), and also because of its cultural significance - as an example, German General von Choltitz refused to carry out Adolf Hitler's desperate order that all Parisian monuments be destroyed before any German retreat.

In the post-war era, Paris experienced its largest development since the end of the Belle Époque in 1914. The suburbs began to expand considerably, with the construction of large social estates known as cités and the beginning of the business district La Défense. A comprehensive express subway network, the RER, was built to complement the Métro and serve the distant suburbs, while a network of freeways was developed in the suburbs, centered on the Périphérique expressway circling around the city.

Since the 1970s, many inner suburbs of Paris (especially the eastern ones) have experienced deindustrialization, and the once-thriving cités have gradually become ghettos for immigrants and oases of unemployment. At the same time, the City of Paris (within its Périphérique ring) and the western and southern suburbs have successfully shifted their economic base from traditional manufacturing to high value-added services and high-tech manufacturing, generating great wealth for their residents whose per capita income is among the highest in Europe. The resulting widening social gap between these two areas has led to periodic unrest since the mid-1980s, such as the 2005 civil unrest in France which largely concentrated in the northeastern suburbs.

Geography Paris is located in the north-bending arc of the Seine and includes two islands, the Île Saint-Louis and the larger Île de la Cité, which form the oldest part of the city. Overall, the city is relatively flat, and the lowest elevation is 35 meters (114 ft) above sea level. Paris has several prominent hills, of which the highest is Montmartre at 130 metre (426 foot (unit)).

Paris, excluding the outlying parks of Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, covers an oval measuring 86.928 square kilometres (33.56 square miles) in area. The city's last major annexation of outlying territories in 1860 not only gave it its modern form, but created the twenty clockwise-spiralling Arrondissements of Paris (municipal boroughs). From the 1860 area of 78 km² (30.1 sq mi), the city limits were expanded marginally to in the 1920s. In 1929 the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes forest parks were officially annexed to the city, bringing its area to its present 105.397 km² (40.69 sq mi).

Paris' real demographic size, or unité urbaine, extends well beyond the city limits, forming an irregular oval with arms of urban growth extending along the Seine and Marne rivers from the city's south-east and east, and along the Seine and Oise rivers to the city's north-west and north. Beyond the main suburbs, population density drops sharply: a mix of forest and agriculture dotted with a network of relatively evenly dispersed éparpillement of satellite towns, this couronne périurbaine commuter belt, when combined with the Paris agglomeration, completes the Paris aire urbaine (or Paris urban area, a sort of metropolitan area) that covers an oval 14,518 km² (5,605.5 sq mi) in area, or about 138 times that of Paris itself.

Climate Paris has an oceanic climate and is affected by the North Atlantic Current, so the city has a temperate climate that rarely sees extremely high or low temperatures. The average yearly high temperature is about 15 Celsius (59 Fahrenheit), and yearly lows tend to remain around an average of 7 °C (45 °F). The highest temperature ever, recorded on 28 July 1948, was 40.4 °C (104.7 °F), and the lowest was a −23.9 °C (−11.0 °F) temperature reached on 10 December 1879. The Paris region has recently seen temperatures reaching both extremes, with the European heat wave of 2003 and 2006 European cold wave.

Rainfall can occur at any time of the year, and Paris is known for its sudden showers. The city sees an average yearly precipitation of 641.6 mm (25.2 inches). Snowfall is a rare occurrence, usually appearing in the coldest months of January or February (but has been recorded as late as April), and almost never accumulates enough to make a covering that will last more than a day.{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;width:100%;border:0px;text-align:center;line-height:120%;"! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" |Month! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Jan! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Feb! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Mar! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Apr! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | May! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Jun! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Jul! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Aug! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Sep! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Oct! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Nov! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Dec! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Year|-! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" |Avg high °C (°F)| style="background: #DDDDDD; color:#000000;" | 7 (45)| style="background: #DDDDDD; color:#000000;" | 9 (49)| style="background: #FFFF99; color:#000000;" | 13 (56)| style="background: #FFCC66; color:#000000;" | 16 (61)| style="background: #FFCC66; color:#000000;" | 20 (68)| style="background: #FF8000; color:#000000;" | 23 (73)| style="background: #FF8000; color:#000000;" | 24 (75)| style="background: #FF8000; color:#000000;" | 25 (77)| style="background: #FF8000; color:#000000;" | 21 (71)| style="background: #FFFF99; color:#000000;" | 15 (59)| style="background: #FFFFCC; color:#000000;" | 9 (49)| style="background: #FFFFCC; color:#000000;" | 8 (47)| style="background: #FFFF99; color:#000000;" | 15 (59)|-! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" height="16;" |Avg low temperature °C (°F)| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 4 (39)| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 4 (39)| style="background: #FFFFCC; color: black;" | 6 (45)| style="background: #DDDDCC; color: black;" | 9 (49)| style="background: #FFFF99; color: black;" | 12 (54)| style="background: #FFCC66; color: black;" | 15 (60)| style="background: #FFCC66; color: black;" | 16 (61)| style="background: #FFFF99; color: black;" | 16 (61)| style="background: #FFFF99; color: black;" | 12 (54)| style="background: #FFFFCC; color: black;" | 8 (46)| style="background: #DDDDDD; color: black;" | 4 (39)| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 4 (36)| style="background: #DDDDDD; color: black;" | 7 (45)|-| colspan="14" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|Source: MSN Weather|}

Cityscape Architecture

"Modern" Paris is the result of a vast Haussmann's renovation of Paris. For centuries it had been a labyrinth of narrow streets and half-timber houses, but beginning in 1852, the Baron Haussmann's vast urbanisation levelled entire quarters to make way for wide avenues lined with neo-classical stone buildings of bourgeoise standing; most of this 'new' Paris is the Paris we see today. These French Second Empire plans are in many cases still in effect, as the city of Paris imposes the then-defined "alignement" law (imposed position defining a predetermined street width) on many new constructions. A building's height was also defined according to the width of the street it lines, and Paris' building code has seen few changes since the mid-19th century to allow for higher constructions. It is for this reason that Paris is mainly a "flat" city.

Paris' unchanging borders, strict building codes and lack of developable land have together contributed in creating a phenomenon called muséification (or "museumification") as, at the same time as they strive to preserve Paris' historical past, existing laws make it difficult to create within city limits the larger buildings and utilities needed for a growing population. Many of Paris' institutions and economic infrastructure are already located in, or are planning on moving to, the suburbs. The financial (La Défense) business district, the main food wholesale market (Marché d'Intérêt National de Rungis), major renowned schools (École Polytechnique, École des Hautes Études Commerciales, ESSEC, INSEAD, etc.), world famous research laboratories (in Saclay or Évry), the largest sport stadium (Stade de France), and some ministries (namely the Ministry of Transportation) are located outside of the city of Paris. The National Archives of France are due to relocate to the northern suburbs before 2010.

Districts and historical centres

• Champs-Élysées (8th arrondissement, right bank) is a seventeenth century garden-promenade turned avenue connecting the Concorde and Arc de Triomphe. It is one of the many tourist attractions and a major shopping street of Paris. This avenue has been called "la plus belle avenue du monde" ("the most beautiful avenue in the world").
• Avenue Montaigne (8th arrondissement), next to the Champs-Élysées, is home to luxury brand labels such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton (LVMH), Christian Dior and Givenchy.
• Place de la Concorde (8th arrondissement, right bank) is at the foot of the Champs-Élysées, built as the "Place Louis XV", site of the infamous guillotine. The Egyptian obelisk is Paris's "oldest monument". On this place, on the two side of the Rue Royale live two identical stone buildings: the eastern houses the French Naval Ministry, the western the luxurious Hôtel de Crillon. Nearby Place Vendôme is famous for its fashionable and deluxe hotels (Hôtel Ritz Paris and Hôtel de Vendôme) and its jewellers. Many famous fashion designers have had their salons in the square.
• Rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré (8th arrondissement, right bank) is one of Paris' high-fashion districts, home to labels such as Hermès and Christian Lacroix.
• Avenue de l'Opéra (9th arrondissement, right bank) is the area around the Opéra Garnier is a home to the capital's densest concentration of both department stores and offices. A few examples are the Printemps and Galeries Lafayette grands magasins (department stores), and the Paris headquarters of financial giants such as Crédit Lyonnais and American Express.
• Montmartre (18th arrondissement, right bank) is a historic area on the Butte, home to the Basilica of the Sacré Coeur. Montmartre has always had a history with artists and has many studios and cafés of many great artists in that area.
• Les Halles (1st arrondissement, right bank) was formerly Paris' central meat and produce market, since the late 1970s a major shopping center around an important Rapid transit connection station (the biggest in Europe). The past Les Halles was destroyed in 1971 and replaced by the Forum des Halles. The central market of Paris, the biggest wholesale food market in the world, was transferred to Marché d'Intérêt National de Rungis, in the southern suburbs.
• Le Marais (3rd and 4th arrondissements) is a trendy Right Bank district. With large gay and Jewish populations it is a very culturally open place.
• Place de la Bastille (4th, 11th and 12th arrondissements, right bank) being one of the most historic districts, being a location of an essential event of not only Paris, but the whole country of France. Because of its historical value the square is often used for political demonstrations, including the massive 2006 labor protests in France.
• Quartier Latin (5th and 6th arrondissements, left bank) is a twelfth century scholastic centre formerly stretching between the Left Bank's Place Maubert and the University of Paris campus. It is known for its lively atmosphere and many bistros. With various higher education establishments, such as the École Normale Supérieure, ParisTech and the Jussieu Campus make it a major educational center in Paris, which also contributes to its atmosphere.
• Montparnasse (14th arrondissement) is a historic Left Bank area famous for artists studios, music halls, and café life. The large Montparnasse - Bienvenüe (Paris Métro) Paris Métro station and the lone Tour Montparnasse skyscraper are located there.
• La Défense (straddling the commune in France of Courbevoie, Puteaux, and Nanterre, 2.5 km/1.5 miles west of the City of Paris) is a Paris districts#Key Suburbs of Paris and is one of the largest business centres in the world. Built at the western end of a westward extension of Paris' historical axis from the Champs-Élysées, La Défense consists mainly of business highrises. Initiated by the French government in 1958, the district hosts 3.5 million m² of offices, making of it the largest district in Europe specifically developed for business. The Grande Arche (Great Arch) of la Défense, which houses a part of the French Transports Minister's headquarters, ends the central Esplanade around which the district is organised.

Monuments and landmarks Three of the most famous Parisian landmarks are the twelfth century cathedral Notre Dame de Paris on the Île de la Cité, the nineteenth century Eiffel Tower, and the Napoleon Bonaparte Arc de Triomphe. The Eiffel Tower was a "temporary" construction by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Universal Exposition but the tower was never dismantled and is now an enduring symbol of Paris. It is visible from many parts of the city as are the Tour Montparnasse skyscraper and the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on the Montmartre hill.

The Axe historique is a line of monuments, buildings and thoroughfares that run in a roughly straight line from the city centre westwards: the line of monuments begins with the Louvre and continues through the Tuileries Palace, the Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe centred in the Place de l'Étoile circus. From the 1960s the line was prolonged even further west to the La Défense business district dominated by square-shaped triumphal Grande Arche of its own; this district hosts most of the List of tallest buildings and structures in the Paris region in the Paris urban area.The Les Invalides museum is the burial place for many great French soldiers, including Napoleon, and the The Panthéon church is where many of France's illustrious men and women are buried. The former Conciergerie prison held some prominent ancien régime members before their deaths during the French Revolution. Another symbol of the Revolution are the two Statue of Liberty located on the Île des Cygnes on the Seine and in the Jardin du Luxembourg. A larger version of the statues was sent as a gift from France to United States in 1886 and now stands in New York City's harbour.

The Palais Garnier built in the later Second Empire period, houses the Paris Opera and the Paris Opera Ballet, while the former palace of the Louvre now houses one of the most famous museums in the world. The Sorbonne is the most famous part of the University of Paris and is based in the centre of the Latin Quarter. Apart from Notre Dame de Paris, there are several other ecclesiastical masterpieces including the Gothic thirteenth century Sainte-Chapelle palace chapel and the Église de la Madeleine.

Parks and gardens Two of Paris's oldest and famous gardens are the Tuileries Garden, created from the 16th century for a palace on the banks of the Seine River near the Louvre, and the Rive Gauche Luxembourg Garden, another formerly private garden belonging to a château built for the Marie de' Medici in 1612. The Jardin des Plantes, created by Louis XIII's doctor Guy de La Brosse for the cultivation of medicinal plants, was Paris' first public garden.

A few of Paris' other large gardens are Second Empire creations: the formerly suburban parks of Montsouris, Parc des Buttes Chaumont and Parc Monceau (formerly known as the "folie de Chartres"), were creations of Napoleon III of France's engineer Jean-Charles Alphand and the landscape and are enjoyed by all ages. Another project executed under the orders of Baron Haussmann was the re-sculpting of Paris' western Bois de Boulogne forest-parklands; the Bois de Vincennes, to Paris' opposite eastern end, received a similar treatment in years following.

Newer additions to Paris' park landscape are the Parc de la Villette, built by the architect Bernard Tschumi on the location of Paris' former slaughterhouses, and gardens being lain to Paris' periphery along the traces of its former circular "Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture" railway line.

Cemeteries Paris's cemeteries were on its outskirts upon their 1804 creation. Many of Paris's churches had their own cemeteries, but, by the late 18th century, they were making living conditions unpleasant for nearby housing. Abolished from 1786, all parish cemeteries contents were taken to abandoned limestone mines outside the southern gates of then Paris, today the XIVe arrondissement's place Denfert Rochereau (Paris RER). The latter are known today as the Catacombs of Paris.

Paris has once again grown to surround all of its former cemeteries. Many of Paris's historical figures have found rest in Père Lachaise. Other notable cemeteries include Cimetière de Montmartre, Montparnasse Cemetery, Cimetière de Passy and the Catacombs of Paris. New suburban cemeteries were created in the early 20th century: the largest of these are the Cimetière Parisien de Saint-Ouen, the Cimetière Parisien de Bobigny-Pantin, the Cimetière Parisien d'Ivry and the Cimetière Parisien de Bagneux.

Culture Entertainment Opera
Paris' largest opera houses are the 19th century Opéra Garnier and modern Opéra Bastille; the former tends towards the more classic ballets and operas, and the latter provides a mixed repertoire of classic and modern.

Theatre/Concert halls
Theatre traditionally has had a large place in Parisian culture. This still holds true today, although, perhaps strangely, many of its most popular actors today are also stars of French television. A few of Paris' major theatres are Bobino, Théâtre Mogador and the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse. Some Parisian theatres also doubled as concert halls.

Many of France's greatest musical legends such as Édith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier, Georges Brassens and Charles Aznavour found their fame in Parisian concert halls: legendary yet still-showing examples of these are Le Lido, Bobino, l'Olympia, la Cigale and le Splendid.

The below-mentioned Élysées-Montmartre, much reduced from its original size, is a concert hall today. The New Morning is one of few Parisian clubs still holding jazz concerts, but the same also specialises in 'indie' music. More recently, the Zenith hall in Paris' La Villette quarter and a "parc-omnisports" stadium in Bercy serve as large-scale rock concert halls.

Dancehalls/Discotheques
Guinguettes and Bals-concerts were the backbone of Parisian entertainment before the mid-20th century. Early to mid-19th century examples were the Moulin de la Galette guinguette and the Élysées-Montmartre and Chateau-Rouge dancehalls-gardens. Popular orchestral fare gave way to the Parisian accordionists of lore whose music moved the Apollo and le Java faubourg du Temple and Belleville, Paris dance-hall crowds. Out of the clubs remaining from this era grew the modern discothèque: Le Palace, although closed today, is Paris' most legendary example. Today, much of the clubbing in Paris happens in clubs like Le Queen, L'Etoile, Le Cab which are highly selective. Electronic music oriented clubs such as Le Rex, the Batofar (a boat converted into a club) or The Pulp are quite popular and some of the world's best DJs play there.

Cafés, restaurants and hotelsCafés quickly became an integral part of French culture from their appearance, namely from the opening of the Rive Gauche Café Procope in 1689 and the café Régence at the Palais Royal one year earlier. The cafés in the gardens of the latter locale became quite popular through the 18th century, and can be considered Paris' first "terrace cafés"; these would not become widespread until sidewalks and boulevards began to appear from the mid-19th century. Cafés are an almost obligatory stop on the way to or from work for many Parisians, and especially during lunchtime.

Paris' culinary reputation has its base in the many origins of its inhabitants. With the early-19th century railways and ensuing industrial revolution came a flood of migration that brought with it all the gastronomical diversity of France's many different regions, and maintained through 'local speciality' restaurants catering to the tastes of people from all. "Chez Jenny" is a typical example of a restaurant specialising in the cuisine of the Alsace region, and "Aux Lyonnais" is another with traditional fare originating from its city name's region. Of course migration from even more distant climes meant an even greater culinary diversity, and today, in addition to a great number of North African and Asian establishments, in Paris one can find top-quality cuisine from virtually the world over.

Hotels were another result of widespread travel and tourism, especially Paris' late-19th century World's Fair (World's Fairs). Of the most luxurious of these, the Hôtel Ritz Paris appeared in the Place Vendôme from 1898, and the Hôtel de Crillon opened its doors on the north side of the place de la Concorde from 1909.

Cinema

Parisians tend to share the same movie-going trends as many of the world's global cities, that is to say with a dominance of Hollywood-generated film entertainment. French cinema comes a close second, with major directors (réalisateurs) such as Claude Lelouch, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol and Luc Besson, and the more slapstick/popular genre with director Claude Zidi as an example. European and Asian films are also widely shown and appreciated. A specialty of Paris is its very large network of small movie theaters: on a given week the movie fan has the choice between around 300 old or new movies from all over the world.

Many of Paris' concert/dance halls were transformed into movie theatres when the media became popular from the 1930s. Later most of the largest cinemas were divided into multiple, smaller rooms: Paris' largest cinema today is by far le Grand Rex theatre with 2800 seats, while other cinemas all have less than 1000 seats. There is now a trend toward modern multiplexes with more than 10 or 20 screens in the same building.

Tourism Paris had always been a destination for traders, students and those on religious pilgrimages, but its 'tourism' in the proper sense of the term began on a large scale only with the appearance of rail travel, namely from state organisation of France's rail network from 1848. One of Paris' first 'mass' attractions drawing international interest were, from 1855, the above-mentioned World fair that would bring Paris many new monuments, namely the Eiffel tower from 1889. These, in addition to the Capital's French Second Empire embellishments, did much to make the city itself the attraction it is today.

Paris' museums and monuments are by far its highest-esteemed attractions, and tourist interest has been nothing but a benefit to these; tourism has even motivated both city and State to create new ones. The city's most prized museum, the Louvre, sees over 8 million visitors a year, being by far the world's most visited art museum. Paris' cathedrals are another main attraction: its Cathedral of Notre Dame and Sacré-Coeur basilica receive 12 million and 8 million visitors respectively. The Eiffel Tower, by far Paris' most famous monument, averages over 6 million visitors per year and more than 200 millions since its construction. Disneyland Resort Paris is a major tourist attraction not only for visitors to Paris, but to Europe as well, with 12.4 million visitors in 2004.

The Louvre is one of the largest and most famous museums, housing many works of art, including the Mona Lisa (La Joconde) and the Venus de Milo statue. Works by Pablo Picasso and Rodin are found in Musée Picasso and Musée Rodin respectively, while the Montparnasse is chronicled at the Musée du Montparnasse. Starkly apparent with its service-pipe exterior, the Centre Georges Pompidou, also known as Beaubourg, houses the Musée National d'Art Moderne. Lastly, art and artifacts from the Middle Ages and Impressionism eras are kept in Musée Cluny and Musée d'Orsay respectively, the former with the prized tapestry cycle The Lady and the Unicorn.

Many of Paris' once-popular local establishments have metamorphised into a parody of French culture, in a form catering to the tastes and expectations of tourist capital. Le Lido, The Moulin Rouge cabaret-dancehall, for example, are a staged dinner theatre spectacle, a dance display that was once but one aspect of the cabaret's former atmosphere. All of the establishment's former social or cultural elements, such as its ballrooms and gardens, are gone today. Much of Paris' hotel, restaurant and night entertainment trades have become heavily dependent on tourism, with results not always positive for Parisian culture.

Sports Paris's main sport clubs are the football (soccer) club Paris Saint-Germain, the basketball team Paris Basket Racing and the rugby union club Stade Français Paris. The 80,000-seat Stade de France was built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup and is used for football and rugby union, and is used annually for France national rugby union team's home matches of the Six Nations Championship and sometimes for big matches for the Stade Français rugby team. Racing Métro 92 Paris (who now play in Rugby Pro D2) is another rugby team, which actually contested the first ever final against Stade Français in 1892. Paris also hosted the 1900 Summer Olympics and 1924 Summer Olympics Olympic Games and was venue for the 1938 FIFA World Cup and 1998 FIFA World Cup FIFA World Cups.

Although the starting point and the route of the famous Tour de France varies each year, the final stage always finishes in Paris and since 1975, the race has finished on the Champs-Elysées. Tennis is another popular sport in Paris and throughout France. The French Open, held every year on the red clay of the Roland Garros National Tennis Center near the Bois de Boulogne, is one of the four Grand Slam (tennis) events of the world professional tennis tour. The 2006 UEFA Champions League Final between Arsenal FC and FC Barcelona was played in the Stade de France. Paris will host this years' 2007 Rugby World Cup final at Stade de France on 20 October, 2007.

Economy

With a 2005 GDP of €478.7 billion (US$595.3 billion),At real exchange rates, not at Purchasing power parity the Paris Region has one of the highest GDPs in Europe, making it an engine of the global economy: were it a country, it would rank as the fourteenth largest economy in the world. The Paris Region is France's premier centre of economic activity: while its population accounted for 18.7% of the total population of metropolitan France in 2005, its GDP was about 28.5% that of metropolitan France. Activity in the Paris urban area is diverse, unlike most of the world's metropoles that tend to have a leading specialised industry (such as Los Angeles with entertainment industries or London and New York with financial industries in addition to other activities). Recently the Paris economy has been shifting towards high value-added service industries (finance, IT services, etc.) and high-tech manufacturing (electronics, optics, aerospace, etc).

The Paris Region's most intense economic activity through the central Hauts-de-Seine Département in France and suburban La Défense business district places Paris' economic centre to the west of the city, in a triangle between the Opera, La Défense and the Val de Seine. Paris' administrative borders have little consequences on the limits of its economic activity: although most workers commute from the suburbs to work in the city, many commute from the city to work in the suburbs. At the 1999 census, 47.5% of the 5,089,170 people in employment in the Paris urban area worked in the city of Paris and the Hauts-de-Seine département, while only 31.5% worked exclusively in Paris.

Although the Paris economy is largely dominated by services, it remains an important manufacturing powerhouse of Europe, especially in industrial sectors such as automobiles, aeronautics, and electronics. Over recent decades, the local economy has moved towards high value-added activities, in particular business services.

The 1999 census indicated that of the 5,089,170 persons employed in the Paris urban area, 16.5% worked in business services, 13.0% in commerce (retail and wholesale trade), 12.3% in manufacturing, 10.0% in public administrations and defense industry, 8.7% in public health services, 8.2% in transportation and communications, 6.6% in education, and the remaining 24.7% in many other economic sectors. Among the manufacturing sector, the largest employers were the electronics and electrical industry (17.9% of the total manufacturing workforce in 1999) and the publishing and printing industry (14.0% of the total manufacturing workforce), with the remaining 68.1% of the manufacturing workforce distributed among many other industries. tourism industry and tourist related services employ 6.2% of Paris' workforce, and 3.6% of all workers within the Paris Region.

Demography {| border="0" style="border: 1px solid #999; background-color:#ffffff;width:280px;clear:right;font-size:90%;line-height:130%;margin-left:8px;" align="right"|+ Demographics within the Paris Region
(according to the INSEE 2005 estimates)|- bgcolor=#fbfbfb| colspan="5"||- bgcolor=#cccccc| colspan="5" style="text-align:center;font-weight:bold;font-size:105%;"| Ile-de-France départements|- bgcolor=#BDBBD7 style="color:#000080;text-align:center;font-size:105%;"|style="padding:3px;"| Areas||style="padding:3px;"|Population
2005 est. ||style="padding:3px;"|Area
||style="padding:3px;"|Density
||style="padding:5px;white-space:nowrap;"|1999-2005
pop. growth|- bgcolor="#EFEFEF"| City of Paris
(département in France 75)|| align=right | 2,153,600 || align=right | || align=right | || align=right | +1.33%|- bgcolor=#fbfbfb| style="white-space:nowrap;"|Inner ring
(Petite Couronne)
(Depts. Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne)|| align=right | 4,254,600 || align=right | || align=right | || align=right | +5.34%|- bgcolor="#EFEFEF"| style="white-space:nowrap;"|Outer ring
(Grande Couronne)
(Depts. Seine-et-Marne, Yvelines, Essonne, Val-d'Oise)|| align=right | 4,991,100 || align=right | || align=right | || align=right | +4.25%|- bgcolor=#fbfbfb| Île-de-France (région)
(entire région in France)|| align=right | 11,399,300 || align=right | || align=right | || align=right | +4.08%|- bgcolor=#cccccc| colspan="5" style="text-align:center;font-weight:bold;font-size:105%;"| Statistical Growth (INSEE 1999 census)|- bgcolor=#BDBBD7 style="color:#000080;text-al {{French commune|native_name = Ville de Paris|common_name = Paris|image = |caption = The Eiffel Tower in Paris, as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro.]
(Latin: "Tossed by the waves, she does not sink")]|departement = Paris (75)|mayor = Bertrand Delanoë|mandat = 2001-2008|subdivisions_entry = [Administrative division|subdivisions = Arrondissements of Paris|area = 86.9 Excluding Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes of [France. It is situated on the Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France (region) Regions of France ("Région parisienne"). The City of Paris has an estimated population of 2,153,600 within its administrative limits. The Paris unité urbaine (similar to the North American "urban area") is an area of unbroken urban growth that extends well beyond the administrative city limits and has a population of 9.93 million. A commuter belt around the unité urbaine completes the Paris aire urbaine (similar to the North American "metropolitan area") that, with its population of 12 million, is one of the most heavily populated areas in Europe.

An important settlement for more than two millennia, Paris is today one of the world's leading business and cultural centers, and its influence in politics, education, entertainment, Mass media, fashion, science and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major Global city.Global_city#GaWC_Inventory_of_World_Cities.2C_1999Global_city#GaWC_Leading_World_Cities.2C_2004 The Paris Region (Île-de-France (region)) is France's foremost centre of economic activity. With €500.8 billion (US$628.9 billion), it produced more than a quarter of the gross domestic product (GDP) of France in 2006. La Défense, the largest purpose-built business district in Europe, hosts the headquarters of almost half of the major French companies and of fifteen of the world's 100 largest companies. Paris also hosts many international organizations such as UNESCO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the International Chamber of Commerce and the informal Paris Club.

Paris is the most popular tourist destination in the world, with over 30 million foreign visitors per year. There are numerous iconic landmarks among its many attractions, along with world famous institutions and popular parks.

Etymology The name Paris, pronounced in English language and in French language, derives from that of its pre-Roman-era inhabitants, the Gaulish tribe known as the Parisii (France). The city was called Lutetia () during the first- to sixth-century Roman occupation, but the present name began to replace this towards the end of that period.

Paris has many nicknames, but its most famous is 'The City of Light' (La Ville-lumière), a name it owes both to its fame as a center of education and ideas and its early adoption of street-lighting. Paris since the early 20th century has also been known in Parisian slang as Paname (; , i.e. "I'm from Paname"), slang name that has been regaining favour with young people in recent years.

Paris's inhabitants are known in English as "Parisians" ( or ) and as Parisiens () in French language. Parisians are often pejoratively called Parigots () by those living outside the Paris Region, but this is a term sometimes considered endearing by Parisians themselves.

See wikt:Paris#Translations for the name of Paris in various languages other than English and French.

History Early beginnings The earliest archeological and rather detailed signs of permanent habitation in the Paris area date from around 4200 Common Era. the area near the river Seine was settled from around 250 BCE by the Parisii (France), a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, who were known as boatsmen and traders. The Roman Empire conquered the Paris basin in 52 BCE, with a permanent settlement by the end of the same century on the Rive Gauche Montagne Sainte-Geneviève and the Île de la Cité island. The Gallo-Roman town was originally called Lutetia, but later Gallicised to Lutèce. It expanded greatly over the following centuries, becoming a prosperous city with a forum, palaces, baths, temples, theatres and an amphitheatre. The collapse of the Roman empire and the third-century Germanic invasions sent the city into a period of decline. By 400 CE Lutèce was largely abandoned by its inhabitants and was little more than a garrison town entrenched into the hastily fortified central island. The city reclaimed its original appellation of "Paris" towards the end of the Romans occupation.

Middle ages castle from the 15th century Très Riches Heures du Duc de BerryAround Anno Domini 500, Paris was the capital of the Franks Merovingian Clovis I, who commissioned the first Saint-Etienne and its first abbey dedicated to his contemporary, later patron saint of the city, Genevieve. On the death of Clovis, the Frankish kingdom was divided, and Paris became the capital of a much smaller sovereign state. By the time of the Carolingian dynasty (9th century), Paris was little more than a feudal county stronghold. The Counts of Paris gradually rose to prominence and eventually wielded greater power than the Kings of Western Francia. Odo, Count of Paris was elected king in place of the incumbent Charles the Fat, namely for the fame he gained in his defence of Paris during the Viking siege (Siege of Paris (885-886)). Although the Île de la Cité had survived the Viking attacks, most of the unprotected Rive Gauche city was destroyed; rather than rebuild there, after drying marshlands to the north of the island, Paris began to expand onto the Rive Droite. In 987 AD, Hugh Capet, Count of Paris, was elected King of France, founding the Capetian dynasty which would raise Paris to become France's capital.

From 1190, King Philip II of France enclosed Paris on both banks with a wall that had the Louvre as its western fortress and in 1200 chartered the University of Paris which brought visitors from across Europe. It was during this period that the city developed a spatial distribution of activities that can still be seen: the central island housed government and ecclesiastical institutions, the left bank became a scholastic centre with the University and colleges, while the right bank developed as the centre of commerce and trade around the central Les Halles marketplace.

Paris lost its position as seat of the French realm while occupied by the English-allied Burgundy during the Hundred Years' War, but regained its title when Charles VII of France reclaimed the city in 1437; although Paris was capital once again, the Crown preferred to remain in its Loire Valley castles. During the French Wars of Religion, Paris was a stronghold of the Catholic League (French), culminating in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre (1572). King Henry IV of France re-established the royal court in Paris in 1594 after he captured the city from the Catholic party. During the Fronde, Parisians rose in rebellion and the royal family fled the city (1648). King Louis XIV of France then moved the royal court permanently to Versailles in 1682. A century later, Paris was the centre stage for the French Revolution, with the Storming of the Bastille in 1789 and the 10th of August (French Revolution) of the monarchy in 1792.

Nineteenth century The Industrial Revolution, the French Second Empire, and the Belle Époque brought Paris the greatest development in its history. From the 1840s, rail transport allowed an unprecedented flow of migrants into Paris attracted by employment in the new industries in the suburbs. The city underwent a massive renovation under Napoleon III and his préfet Baron Haussmann, who Haussmann's renovation of Paris of narrow-winding medieval streets to create the network of wide avenues and neo-classical façades of modern Paris, with the added benefit that in case of future revolts or revolutions, artillery and rifles could be utilised in crowd control.

Cholera epidemics in 1832 and 1849 affected the population of Paris — the 1832 epidemic alone claimed 20,000 of the then population of 650,000. Paris also suffered greatly from the Siege of Paris ending the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), and the ensuing civil war Commune of Paris (1871) killed thousands and sent many of Paris's administrative centres (and city archives) up in flames.

Paris recovered rapidly from these events to host the famous Universal Expositions of the late nineteenth century. The Eiffel Tower was built for the French Revolution centennial Exposition Universelle (1889), as a "temporary" display of architectural engineering prowess but remained the world's tallest building until 1930, and is the city's best-known landmark. The first line of the Paris Métro opened for the Exposition Universelle (1900) and was an attraction in itself for visitors from the world over. Paris's World's Fair years also consolidated its position in the tourist industry and as an attractive setting for international technology and trade shows.

Twentieth century During World War I, Paris was at the forefront of the war effort, having been spared a German invasion by the French and British victory at the First Battle of the Marne in 1914. In 1918-1919, it was the scene of Allies of World War I victory parades and peace negotiations. In the Interwar period Paris was famed for its cultural and artistic communities and its nightlife. The city became a gathering place of artists from around the world, from exiled Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and Spanish painters Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí to American writer Ernest Hemingway. In June 1940, five weeks after the start of the Battle of France, Paris fell to German occupation forces who remained there until Liberation of Paris in August of 1944. After the Normandy invasion Paris waited for liberation. Central Paris endured World War II practically unscathed, as there were no strategic targets for bombers (train stations in central Paris are terminal stations; major factories were located in the suburbs), and also because of its cultural significance - as an example, German General von Choltitz refused to carry out Adolf Hitler's desperate order that all Parisian monuments be destroyed before any German retreat.

In the post-war era, Paris experienced its largest development since the end of the Belle Époque in 1914. The suburbs began to expand considerably, with the construction of large social estates known as cités and the beginning of the business district La Défense. A comprehensive express subway network, the RER, was built to complement the Métro and serve the distant suburbs, while a network of freeways was developed in the suburbs, centered on the Périphérique expressway circling around the city.

Since the 1970s, many inner suburbs of Paris (especially the eastern ones) have experienced deindustrialization, and the once-thriving cités have gradually become ghettos for immigrants and oases of unemployment. At the same time, the City of Paris (within its Périphérique ring) and the western and southern suburbs have successfully shifted their economic base from traditional manufacturing to high value-added services and high-tech manufacturing, generating great wealth for their residents whose per capita income is among the highest in Europe. The resulting widening social gap between these two areas has led to periodic unrest since the mid-1980s, such as the 2005 civil unrest in France which largely concentrated in the northeastern suburbs.

Geography Paris is located in the north-bending arc of the Seine and includes two islands, the Île Saint-Louis and the larger Île de la Cité, which form the oldest part of the city. Overall, the city is relatively flat, and the lowest elevation is 35 meters (114 ft) above sea level. Paris has several prominent hills, of which the highest is Montmartre at 130 metre (426 foot (unit)).

Paris, excluding the outlying parks of Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, covers an oval measuring 86.928 square kilometres (33.56 square miles) in area. The city's last major annexation of outlying territories in 1860 not only gave it its modern form, but created the twenty clockwise-spiralling Arrondissements of Paris (municipal boroughs). From the 1860 area of 78 km² (30.1 sq mi), the city limits were expanded marginally to in the 1920s. In 1929 the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes forest parks were officially annexed to the city, bringing its area to its present 105.397 km² (40.69 sq mi).

Paris' real demographic size, or unité urbaine, extends well beyond the city limits, forming an irregular oval with arms of urban growth extending along the Seine and Marne rivers from the city's south-east and east, and along the Seine and Oise rivers to the city's north-west and north. Beyond the main suburbs, population density drops sharply: a mix of forest and agriculture dotted with a network of relatively evenly dispersed éparpillement of satellite towns, this couronne périurbaine commuter belt, when combined with the Paris agglomeration, completes the Paris aire urbaine (or Paris urban area, a sort of metropolitan area) that covers an oval 14,518 km² (5,605.5 sq mi) in area, or about 138 times that of Paris itself.

Climate Paris has an oceanic climate and is affected by the North Atlantic Current, so the city has a temperate climate that rarely sees extremely high or low temperatures. The average yearly high temperature is about 15 Celsius (59 Fahrenheit), and yearly lows tend to remain around an average of 7 °C (45 °F). The highest temperature ever, recorded on 28 July 1948, was 40.4 °C (104.7 °F), and the lowest was a −23.9 °C (−11.0 °F) temperature reached on 10 December 1879. The Paris region has recently seen temperatures reaching both extremes, with the European heat wave of 2003 and 2006 European cold wave.

Rainfall can occur at any time of the year, and Paris is known for its sudden showers. The city sees an average yearly precipitation of 641.6 mm (25.2 inches). Snowfall is a rare occurrence, usually appearing in the coldest months of January or February (but has been recorded as late as April), and almost never accumulates enough to make a covering that will last more than a day.{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;width:100%;border:0px;text-align:center;line-height:120%;"! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" |Month! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Jan! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Feb! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Mar! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Apr! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | May! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Jun! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Jul! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Aug! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Sep! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Oct! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Nov! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Dec! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" | Year|-! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" |Avg high °C (°F)| style="background: #DDDDDD; color:#000000;" | 7 (45)| style="background: #DDDDDD; color:#000000;" | 9 (49)| style="background: #FFFF99; color:#000000;" | 13 (56)| style="background: #FFCC66; color:#000000;" | 16 (61)| style="background: #FFCC66; color:#000000;" | 20 (68)| style="background: #FF8000; color:#000000;" | 23 (73)| style="background: #FF8000; color:#000000;" | 24 (75)| style="background: #FF8000; color:#000000;" | 25 (77)| style="background: #FF8000; color:#000000;" | 21 (71)| style="background: #FFFF99; color:#000000;" | 15 (59)| style="background: #FFFFCC; color:#000000;" | 9 (49)| style="background: #FFFFCC; color:#000000;" | 8 (47)| style="background: #FFFF99; color:#000000;" | 15 (59)|-! style="background: #99CCCC; color:#000080;" height="16;" |Avg low temperature °C (°F)| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 4 (39)| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 4 (39)| style="background: #FFFFCC; color: black;" | 6 (45)| style="background: #DDDDCC; color: black;" | 9 (49)| style="background: #FFFF99; color: black;" | 12 (54)| style="background: #FFCC66; color: black;" | 15 (60)| style="background: #FFCC66; color: black;" | 16 (61)| style="background: #FFFF99; color: black;" | 16 (61)| style="background: #FFFF99; color: black;" | 12 (54)| style="background: #FFFFCC; color: black;" | 8 (46)| style="background: #DDDDDD; color: black;" | 4 (39)| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 4 (36)| style="background: #DDDDDD; color: black;" | 7 (45)|-| colspan="14" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|Source: MSN Weather|}

Cityscape Architecture

"Modern" Paris is the result of a vast Haussmann's renovation of Paris. For centuries it had been a labyrinth of narrow streets and half-timber houses, but beginning in 1852, the Baron Haussmann's vast urbanisation levelled entire quarters to make way for wide avenues lined with neo-classical stone buildings of bourgeoise standing; most of this 'new' Paris is the Paris we see today. These French Second Empire plans are in many cases still in effect, as the city of Paris imposes the then-defined "alignement" law (imposed position defining a predetermined street width) on many new constructions. A building's height was also defined according to the width of the street it lines, and Paris' building code has seen few changes since the mid-19th century to allow for higher constructions. It is for this reason that Paris is mainly a "flat" city.

Paris' unchanging borders, strict building codes and lack of developable land have together contributed in creating a phenomenon called muséification (or "museumification") as, at the same time as they strive to preserve Paris' historical past, existing laws make it difficult to create within city limits the larger buildings and utilities needed for a growing population. Many of Paris' institutions and economic infrastructure are already located in, or are planning on moving to, the suburbs. The financial (La Défense) business district, the main food wholesale market (Marché d'Intérêt National de Rungis), major renowned schools (École Polytechnique, École des Hautes Études Commerciales, ESSEC, INSEAD, etc.), world famous research laboratories (in Saclay or Évry), the largest sport stadium (Stade de France), and some ministries (namely the Ministry of Transportation) are located outside of the city of Paris. The National Archives of France are due to relocate to the northern suburbs before 2010.

Districts and historical centres

• Champs-Élysées (8th arrondissement, right bank) is a seventeenth century garden-promenade turned avenue connecting the Concorde and Arc de Triomphe. It is one of the many tourist attractions and a major shopping street of Paris. This avenue has been called "la plus belle avenue du monde" ("the most beautiful avenue in the world").
• Avenue Montaigne (8th arrondissement), next to the Champs-Élysées, is home to luxury brand labels such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton (LVMH), Christian Dior and Givenchy.
• Place de la Concorde (8th arrondissement, right bank) is at the foot of the Champs-Élysées, built as the "Place Louis XV", site of the infamous guillotine. The Egyptian obelisk is Paris's "oldest monument". On this place, on the two side of the Rue Royale live two identical stone buildings: the eastern houses the French Naval Ministry, the western the luxurious Hôtel de Crillon. Nearby Place Vendôme is famous for its fashionable and deluxe hotels (Hôtel Ritz Paris and Hôtel de Vendôme) and its jewellers. Many famous fashion designers have had their salons in the square.
• Rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré (8th arrondissement, right bank) is one of Paris' high-fashion districts, home to labels such as Hermès and Christian Lacroix.
• Avenue de l'Opéra (9th arrondissement, right bank) is the area around the Opéra Garnier is a home to the capital's densest concentration of both department stores and offices. A few examples are the Printemps and Galeries Lafayette grands magasins (department stores), and the Paris headquarters of financial giants such as Crédit Lyonnais and American Express.
• Montmartre (18th arrondissement, right bank) is a historic area on the Butte, home to the Basilica of the Sacré Coeur. Montmartre has always had a history with artists and has many studios and cafés of many great artists in that area.
• Les Halles (1st arrondissement, right bank) was formerly Paris' central meat and produce market, since the late 1970s a major shopping center around an important Rapid transit connection station (the biggest in Europe). The past Les Halles was destroyed in 1971 and replaced by the Forum des Halles. The central market of Paris, the biggest wholesale food market in the world, was transferred to Marché d'Intérêt National de Rungis, in the southern suburbs.
• Le Marais (3rd and 4th arrondissements) is a trendy Right Bank district. With large gay and Jewish populations it is a very culturally open place.
• Place de la Bastille (4th, 11th and 12th arrondissements, right bank) being one of the most historic districts, being a location of an essential event of not only Paris, but the whole country of France. Because of its historical value the square is often used for political demonstrations, including the massive 2006 labor protests in France.
• Quartier Latin (5th and 6th arrondissements, left bank) is a twelfth century scholastic centre formerly stretching between the Left Bank's Place Maubert and the University of Paris campus. It is known for its lively atmosphere and many bistros. With various higher education establishments, such as the École Normale Supérieure, ParisTech and the Jussieu Campus make it a major educational center in Paris, which also contributes to its atmosphere.
• Montparnasse (14th arrondissement) is a historic Left Bank area famous for artists studios, music halls, and café life. The large Montparnasse - Bienvenüe (Paris Métro) Paris Métro station and the lone Tour Montparnasse skyscraper are located there.
• La Défense (straddling the commune in France of Courbevoie, Puteaux, and Nanterre, 2.5 km/1.5 miles west of the City of Paris) is a Paris districts#Key Suburbs of Paris and is one of the largest business centres in the world. Built at the western end of a westward extension of Paris' historical axis from the Champs-Élysées, La Défense consists mainly of business highrises. Initiated by the French government in 1958, the district hosts 3.5 million m² of offices, making of it the largest district in Europe specifically developed for business. The Grande Arche (Great Arch) of la Défense, which houses a part of the French Transports Minister's headquarters, ends the central Esplanade around which the district is organised.

Monuments and landmarks Three of the most famous Parisian landmarks are the twelfth century cathedral Notre Dame de Paris on the Île de la Cité, the nineteenth century Eiffel Tower, and the Napoleon Bonaparte Arc de Triomphe. The Eiffel Tower was a "temporary" construction by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Universal Exposition but the tower was never dismantled and is now an enduring symbol of Paris. It is visible from many parts of the city as are the Tour Montparnasse skyscraper and the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on the Montmartre hill.

The Axe historique is a line of monuments, buildings and thoroughfares that run in a roughly straight line from the city centre westwards: the line of monuments begins with the Louvre and continues through the Tuileries Palace, the Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe centred in the Place de l'Étoile circus. From the 1960s the line was prolonged even further west to the La Défense business district dominated by square-shaped triumphal Grande Arche of its own; this district hosts most of the List of tallest buildings and structures in the Paris region in the Paris urban area.The Les Invalides museum is the burial place for many great French soldiers, including Napoleon, and the The Panthéon church is where many of France's illustrious men and women are buried. The former Conciergerie prison held some prominent ancien régime members before their deaths during the French Revolution. Another symbol of the Revolution are the two Statue of Liberty located on the Île des Cygnes on the Seine and in the Jardin du Luxembourg. A larger version of the statues was sent as a gift from France to United States in 1886 and now stands in New York City's harbour.

The Palais Garnier built in the later Second Empire period, houses the Paris Opera and the Paris Opera Ballet, while the former palace of the Louvre now houses one of the most famous museums in the world. The Sorbonne is the most famous part of the University of Paris and is based in the centre of the Latin Quarter. Apart from Notre Dame de Paris, there are several other ecclesiastical masterpieces including the Gothic thirteenth century Sainte-Chapelle palace chapel and the Église de la Madeleine.

Parks and gardens Two of Paris's oldest and famous gardens are the Tuileries Garden, created from the 16th century for a palace on the banks of the Seine River near the Louvre, and the Rive Gauche Luxembourg Garden, another formerly private garden belonging to a château built for the Marie de' Medici in 1612. The Jardin des Plantes, created by Louis XIII's doctor Guy de La Brosse for the cultivation of medicinal plants, was Paris' first public garden.

A few of Paris' other large gardens are Second Empire creations: the formerly suburban parks of Montsouris, Parc des Buttes Chaumont and Parc Monceau (formerly known as the "folie de Chartres"), were creations of Napoleon III of France's engineer Jean-Charles Alphand and the landscape and are enjoyed by all ages. Another project executed under the orders of Baron Haussmann was the re-sculpting of Paris' western Bois de Boulogne forest-parklands; the Bois de Vincennes, to Paris' opposite eastern end, received a similar treatment in years following.

Newer additions to Paris' park landscape are the Parc de la Villette, built by the architect Bernard Tschumi on the location of Paris' former slaughterhouses, and gardens being lain to Paris' periphery along the traces of its former circular "Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture" railway line.

Cemeteries Paris's cemeteries were on its outskirts upon their 1804 creation. Many of Paris's churches had their own cemeteries, but, by the late 18th century, they were making living conditions unpleasant for nearby housing. Abolished from 1786, all parish cemeteries contents were taken to abandoned limestone mines outside the southern gates of then Paris, today the XIVe arrondissement's place Denfert Rochereau (Paris RER). The latter are known today as the Catacombs of Paris.

Paris has once again grown to surround all of its former cemeteries. Many of Paris's historical figures have found rest in Père Lachaise. Other notable cemeteries include Cimetière de Montmartre, Montparnasse Cemetery, Cimetière de Passy and the Catacombs of Paris. New suburban cemeteries were created in the early 20th century: the largest of these are the Cimetière Parisien de Saint-Ouen, the Cimetière Parisien de Bobigny-Pantin, the Cimetière Parisien d'Ivry and the Cimetière Parisien de Bagneux.

Culture Entertainment Opera
Paris' largest opera houses are the 19th century Opéra Garnier and modern Opéra Bastille; the former tends towards the more classic ballets and operas, and the latter provides a mixed repertoire of classic and modern.

Theatre/Concert halls
Theatre traditionally has had a large place in Parisian culture. This still holds true today, although, perhaps strangely, many of its most popular actors today are also stars of French television. A few of Paris' major theatres are Bobino, Théâtre Mogador and the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse. Some Parisian theatres also doubled as concert halls.

Many of France's greatest musical legends such as Édith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier, Georges Brassens and Charles Aznavour found their fame in Parisian concert halls: legendary yet still-showing examples of these are Le Lido, Bobino, l'Olympia, la Cigale and le Splendid.

The below-mentioned Élysées-Montmartre, much reduced from its original size, is a concert hall today. The New Morning is one of few Parisian clubs still holding jazz concerts, but the same also specialises in 'indie' music. More recently, the Zenith hall in Paris' La Villette quarter and a "parc-omnisports" stadium in Bercy serve as large-scale rock concert halls.

Dancehalls/Discotheques
Guinguettes and Bals-concerts were the backbone of Parisian entertainment before the mid-20th century. Early to mid-19th century examples were the Moulin de la Galette guinguette and the Élysées-Montmartre and Chateau-Rouge dancehalls-gardens. Popular orchestral fare gave way to the Parisian accordionists of lore whose music moved the Apollo and le Java faubourg du Temple and Belleville, Paris dance-hall crowds. Out of the clubs remaining from this era grew the modern discothèque: Le Palace, although closed today, is Paris' most legendary example. Today, much of the clubbing in Paris happens in clubs like Le Queen, L'Etoile, Le Cab which are highly selective. Electronic music oriented clubs such as Le Rex, the Batofar (a boat converted into a club) or The Pulp are quite popular and some of the world's best DJs play there.

Cafés, restaurants and hotelsCafés quickly became an integral part of French culture from their appearance, namely from the opening of the Rive Gauche Café Procope in 1689 and the café Régence at the Palais Royal one year earlier. The cafés in the gardens of the latter locale became quite popular through the 18th century, and can be considered Paris' first "terrace cafés"; these would not become widespread until sidewalks and boulevards began to appear from the mid-19th century. Cafés are an almost obligatory stop on the way to or from work for many Parisians, and especially during lunchtime.

Paris' culinary reputation has its base in the many origins of its inhabitants. With the early-19th century railways and ensuing industrial revolution came a flood of migration that brought with it all the gastronomical diversity of France's many different regions, and maintained through 'local speciality' restaurants catering to the tastes of people from all. "Chez Jenny" is a typical example of a restaurant specialising in the cuisine of the Alsace region, and "Aux Lyonnais" is another with traditional fare originating from its city name's region. Of course migration from even more distant climes meant an even greater culinary diversity, and today, in addition to a great number of North African and Asian establishments, in Paris one can find top-quality cuisine from virtually the world over.

Hotels were another result of widespread travel and tourism, especially Paris' late-19th century World's Fair (World's Fairs). Of the most luxurious of these, the Hôtel Ritz Paris appeared in the Place Vendôme from 1898, and the Hôtel de Crillon opened its doors on the north side of the place de la Concorde from 1909.

Cinema

Parisians tend to share the same movie-going trends as many of the world's global cities, that is to say with a dominance of Hollywood-generated film entertainment. French cinema comes a close second, with major directors (réalisateurs) such as Claude Lelouch, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol and Luc Besson, and the more slapstick/popular genre with director Claude Zidi as an example. European and Asian films are also widely shown and appreciated. A specialty of Paris is its very large network of small movie theaters: on a given week the movie fan has the choice between around 300 old or new movies from all over the world.

Many of Paris' concert/dance halls were transformed into movie theatres when the media became popular from the 1930s. Later most of the largest cinemas were divided into multiple, smaller rooms: Paris' largest cinema today is by far le Grand Rex theatre with 2800 seats, while other cinemas all have less than 1000 seats. There is now a trend toward modern multiplexes with more than 10 or 20 screens in the same building.

Tourism Paris had always been a destination for traders, students and those on religious pilgrimages, but its 'tourism' in the proper sense of the term began on a large scale only with the appearance of rail travel, namely from state organisation of France's rail network from 1848. One of Paris' first 'mass' attractions drawing international interest were, from 1855, the above-mentioned World fair that would bring Paris many new monuments, namely the Eiffel tower from 1889. These, in addition to the Capital's French Second Empire embellishments, did much to make the city itself the attraction it is today.

Paris' museums and monuments are by far its highest-esteemed attractions, and tourist interest has been nothing but a benefit to these; tourism has even motivated both city and State to create new ones. The city's most prized museum, the Louvre, sees over 8 million visitors a year, being by far the world's most visited art museum. Paris' cathedrals are another main attraction: its Cathedral of Notre Dame and Sacré-Coeur basilica receive 12 million and 8 million visitors respectively. The Eiffel Tower, by far Paris' most famous monument, averages over 6 million visitors per year and more than 200 millions since its construction. Disneyland Resort Paris is a major tourist attraction not only for visitors to Paris, but to Europe as well, with 12.4 million visitors in 2004.

The Louvre is one of the largest and most famous museums, housing many works of art, including the Mona Lisa (La Joconde) and the Venus de Milo statue. Works by Pablo Picasso and Rodin are found in Musée Picasso and Musée Rodin respectively, while the Montparnasse is chronicled at the Musée du Montparnasse. Starkly apparent with its service-pipe exterior, the Centre Georges Pompidou, also known as Beaubourg, houses the Musée National d'Art Moderne. Lastly, art and artifacts from the Middle Ages and Impressionism eras are kept in Musée Cluny and Musée d'Orsay respectively, the former with the prized tapestry cycle The Lady and the Unicorn.

Many of Paris' once-popular local establishments have metamorphised into a parody of French culture, in a form catering to the tastes and expectations of tourist capital. Le Lido, The Moulin Rouge cabaret-dancehall, for example, are a staged dinner theatre spectacle, a dance display that was once but one aspect of the cabaret's former atmosphere. All of the establishment's former social or cultural elements, such as its ballrooms and gardens, are gone today. Much of Paris' hotel, restaurant and night entertainment trades have become heavily dependent on tourism, with results not always positive for Parisian culture.

Sports Paris's main sport clubs are the football (soccer) club Paris Saint-Germain, the basketball team Paris Basket Racing and the rugby union club Stade Français Paris. The 80,000-seat Stade de France was built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup and is used for football and rugby union, and is used annually for France national rugby union team's home matches of the Six Nations Championship and sometimes for big matches for the Stade Français rugby team. Racing Métro 92 Paris (who now play in Rugby Pro D2) is another rugby team, which actually contested the first ever final against Stade Français in 1892. Paris also hosted the 1900 Summer Olympics and 1924 Summer Olympics Olympic Games and was venue for the 1938 FIFA World Cup and 1998 FIFA World Cup FIFA World Cups.

Although the starting point and the route of the famous Tour de France varies each year, the final stage always finishes in Paris and since 1975, the race has finished on the Champs-Elysées. Tennis is another popular sport in Paris and throughout France. The French Open, held every year on the red clay of the Roland Garros National Tennis Center near the Bois de Boulogne, is one of the four Grand Slam (tennis) events of the world professional tennis tour. The 2006 UEFA Champions League Final between Arsenal FC and FC Barcelona was played in the Stade de France. Paris will host this years' 2007 Rugby World Cup final at Stade de France on 20 October, 2007.

Economy

With a 2005 GDP of €478.7 billion (US$595.3 billion),At real exchange rates, not at Purchasing power parity the Paris Region has one of the highest GDPs in Europe, making it an engine of the global economy: were it a country, it would rank as the fourteenth largest economy in the world. The Paris Region is France's premier centre of economic activity: while its population accounted for 18.7% of the total population of metropolitan France in 2005, its GDP was about 28.5% that of metropolitan France. Activity in the Paris urban area is diverse, unlike most of the world's metropoles that tend to have a leading specialised industry (such as Los Angeles with entertainment industries or London and New York with financial industries in addition to other activities). Recently the Paris economy has been shifting towards high value-added service industries (finance, IT services, etc.) and high-tech manufacturing (electronics, optics, aerospace, etc).

The Paris Region's most intense economic activity through the central Hauts-de-Seine Département in France and suburban La Défense business district places Paris' economic centre to the west of the city, in a triangle between the Opera, La Défense and the Val de Seine. Paris' administrative borders have little consequences on the limits of its economic activity: although most workers commute from the suburbs to work in the city, many commute from the city to work in the suburbs. At the 1999 census, 47.5% of the 5,089,170 people in employment in the Paris urban area worked in the city of Paris and the Hauts-de-Seine département, while only 31.5% worked exclusively in Paris.

Although the Paris economy is largely dominated by services, it remains an important manufacturing powerhouse of Europe, especially in industrial sectors such as automobiles, aeronautics, and electronics. Over recent decades, the local economy has moved towards high value-added activities, in particular business services.

The 1999 census indicated that of the 5,089,170 persons employed in the Paris urban area, 16.5% worked in business services, 13.0% in commerce (retail and wholesale trade), 12.3% in manufacturing, 10.0% in public administrations and defense industry, 8.7% in public health services, 8.2% in transportation and communications, 6.6% in education, and the remaining 24.7% in many other economic sectors. Among the manufacturing sector, the largest employers were the electronics and electrical industry (17.9% of the total manufacturing workforce in 1999) and the publishing and printing industry (14.0% of the total manufacturing workforce), with the remaining 68.1% of the manufacturing workforce distributed among many other industries. tourism industry and tourist related services employ 6.2% of Paris' workforce, and 3.6% of all workers within the Paris Region.

Demography {| border="0" style="border: 1px solid #999; background-color:#ffffff;width:280px;clear:right;font-size:90%;line-height:130%;margin-left:8px;" align="right"|+ Demographics within the Paris Region
(according to the INSEE 2005 estimates)|- bgcolor=#fbfbfb| colspan="5"||- bgcolor=#cccccc| colspan="5" style="text-align:center;font-weight:bold;font-size:105%;"| Ile-de-France départements|- bgcolor=#BDBBD7 style="color:#000080;text-align:center;font-size:105%;"|style="padding:3px;"| Areas||style="padding:3px;"|Population
2005 est. ||style="padding:3px;"|Area
||style="padding:3px;"|Density
||style="padding:5px;white-space:nowrap;"|1999-2005
pop. growth|- bgcolor="#EFEFEF"| City of Paris
(département in France 75)|| align=right | 2,153,600 || align=right | || align=right | || align=right | +1.33%|- bgcolor=#fbfbfb| style="white-space:nowrap;"|Inner ring
(Petite Couronne)
(Depts. Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne)|| align=right | 4,254,600 || align=right | || align=right | || align=right | +5.34%|- bgcolor="#EFEFEF"| style="white-space:nowrap;"|Outer ring
(Grande Couronne)
(Depts. Seine-et-Marne, Yvelines, Essonne, Val-d'Oise)|| align=right | 4,991,100 || align=right | || align=right | || align=right | +4.25%|- bgcolor=#fbfbfb| Île-de-France (région)
(entire région in France)|| align=right | 11,399,300 || align=right | || align=right | || align=right | +4.08%|- bgcolor=#cccccc| colspan="5" style="text-align:center;font-weight:bold;font-size:105%;"| Statistical Growth (INSEE 1999 census)|- bgcolor=#BDBBD7 style="color:#000080;text-al

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