Paris

Ile de la Cite is a portion of Paris surrounded by the Seine River. It is a natural island between the Left and Right Banks of Paris. Notre Dame cathedral is located here.

If you travel around Paris in a Bateau Mouche (fly boat) you’ll pass under 20 of the 37 bridges that cross the Seine.

The first Louvre was a fortress built at the beginning of the 13th century by Philip II Augustus to defend the Seine below Paris against the Normans and English. It grew larger with each new reign. Finally, it became a museum after the Revolution. Some works of art there are: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and Winged Victory. In 1989, the newly renovated building, complete with glass pyramid (designed by IM Pei) was re-opened to the public. It is 72 ft. tall, 100 ft. wide with nearly 800 panes of glass. It is the main entrance to the Louvre.

The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine, housed in the former railway station. It contains an extensive number of Impressionist masterpieces by Monet, Degas, Renoir, etc.

L'Hôtel national des Invalides (The National Residence of the Invalids), is a complex of buildings containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's original purpose. Napoleon Bonapart is buried here.

Arc de Triomphe is located at the base of the Champs-Ellysees in the Place de Charles de Gaulle (Place de l’Etoile (star). It is a monument to honor all those who have fought for France (especially during the Napoleonic Wars.

La Defense is Europe's largest business center with 80 hectares of offices and shopping centers.140 000 people work in La Defense, a Paris district five kilometers West of Paris.With headquarters of companies such as IBM, Total, Axa, EDF, GDF Suez and Areva, La Defense is a European economic powerhouse.

Built for the 200th anniversary of the French revolution in 1789The Notre Dame Cathedral would fit inside the cube!

When the château was built, Versailles was a country village; today, however, it is a suburb of Paris, some twenty kilometres southwest of the French capital. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy.It is most famous for its gardens and the Gallerie des Glaces.

In 1969, President Georges Pompidoul launched the idea of creating a new cultural center in Paris. 650 companies entered the competition to design the building. The winners took the functional elements (elevators, plumbing, electrical wiring, etc. And put it on the outside, leaving more room on the inside to display art.

Place de la Concorde is the largest square in Paris. It is 20 acres big. In 1792, during the French revolution, the statue was replaced by a another, large statue, called 'Liberté'

(freedom) and the square was called Place de la Révolution. A guillotine was installed at the center of the square and in a time span of only a couple of years, 1119 people were

beheaded here. Amongst them many famous people like King Louis XVI, Marie-Antionette, and Robespierre. It was renamed in 1830.

The Palace of Fontainebleau, located 55 kilometres from the centre of Paris, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. The palace as it is today is the work of many French monarchs. The building is arranged around a series of courtyards. The city of Fontainebleau, has grown up around the remainder of the Forest of Fontainebleau, a former royal hunting park.

The Jardin du Luxembourg is probably the most popular park in Paris. The garden is largely devoted to a green lawn populated with statues and

centered on a large octagonal basin of water, with a central jet of water; in it children sail model boats

Once the tallest structure in the world, the Eiffel Tower is probably Europe's best known landmark and Paris's most famous symbol.

The tower rises 300 meters tall (984 ft); when it was completed at the

end of the 19th century it was twice as high as the Washington Monument, at the time the tallest structure in the world.

1889 World ExhibitionThe Eiffel Tower was built for the World Exhibition in 1889, held in

celebration of the French Revolution in 1789.The construction was only meant to last for the duration of the

Exposition, but it still stands today

The English Channel (French: la Manche, the "sleeve") is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Great Britain from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about 560 km (350 mi) long and varies in width from 240 km (150 mi).

Channel TunnelMany travelers cross beneath the English Channel using the Channel Tunnel. This engineering feat, first proposed in the early 19th century and finally realized in 1994, connects the UK and France by rail. It is now routine to travel between Paris or Brussels and London on the Eurostar train. Cars can also travel on special trains

Les Tuileries is the most central park in Paris. No traffic is allowed.Les Tuileries stretches 5 km along the Seine river right bank from the Louvre museum to Place de la Concorde. Designed in 1664 by Le Notre, the famous Versailles park designer, the Tuileries garden is spread with beautiful basins and statues

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres) is located in the medieval town of Chartres, about 50 miles from Paris.Not only is Chartres Cathedral one of the greatest achievements in the history of architecture, it is almost perfectly preserved in its original design and details. Chartres' extensive cycle of portal sculpture remains fully intact and its glowing stained-glass windows are all originals. Chartres is thus the only cathedral that conveys an almost perfect image of how it looked when it was built.

Notre Dame Cathedral (full name: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, "Our Lady of Paris") is a beautiful cathedral on the the Île de la Cité in Paris. Begun in 1163 and mostly completed by 1250, Notre Dame is an important example of French Gothic architecture, sculpture and stained glass. The Notre Dame is the most popular monument in Paris and in all of France, beating even the Eiffel Tower with 13 million visitors each year. But the famous cathedral is also an active Catholic church, a place of pilgrimage, and the focal point for Catholicism in France

The Sainte-Chapelle, is located in the courtyard of the royal palace on the Île de la Cité, was built to house precious relics: Christ’s crown of thorns, and thirty other relics acquired by Louis XIV.

This impressive promenade stretches from the Place the la Concorde to the Place Charles de Gaulle, the site of the Arc de Triomphe. At its western end the Champs-Elysées is bordered by cinemas, theaters, cafés and luxury shops. Near the Place de la Concorde, the street is bordered by the Jardins des Champs-Elysées, beautifully arranged gardens with fountains and some grand buildings including the Grand and Petit Palais at the southern side and the Elysée at its northern side. The latter has been the residence of the French Presidents since 1873.

Topped by 19th century Sacre-Coeur white basilica, Montmartre is the highest Paris hill at 130 meters. Very rural until a century ago, Montmartre is nowadays the last village in the big city of Paris.

Des Plats Francais

Francois Hollande – President of France

Prime Minister Jean Marc Ayrault

The type of government France has is called a parliamentary democracy.France has a semi-presidential republic. They have a president and a prime. They are both active participants in the day-to-day administration of the state.

The earliest humans in France date back way before the croissant was invented - about 50, 000 years. Before it was known as France, a country called Gaul occupied approximately the same place. Gaul was conquered by Rome in the first century BCE, which led to the Gauls adopting the Roman language and culture. Around 400 AD, Germanic tribes known as Franks began entering Gaul, which is where France derived its modern name.

In the year 843, the Treaty of Verdun created a territory called Western Francia, which was the precursor to modern France. Several royal families ruled.

11-13 centuries was the “Middle Ages” and the Crusades to spread Christianity

14-15 centuries – France vs. England in the 100 Years War. France is crippled by the Black Death (Plague)

15-16 centuries – The Renaissance (Rebirth) of art and culture.

1789 -The monarchy was overthrown during the French Revolution (ended in 1798). Louis 16 & Marie Antoinette are beheaded.

About 10 years after the revolution, a guy named Napoleon Bonaparte seized control of France, declaring himself the Emperor of France (1804). He waged several wars and conquered a good portion of Europe before being defeated at the Battle of Waterloo.

1889 – Eiffel Tower build for the world’s fair

France suffered huge losses in the First World War, despite being on the winning side (Treaty of Versailles ended WWI), and was seized by the Nazis during World War II. The country was eventually liberated in a joint effort of the United States, United Kingdom and Canada in 1944.

France now has both a president (Francois Hollande) and a prime minister (Marc Ayrault)

•Overall, the French export more per capita than the Japanese and more than twice as much as the Americans. France is overall, the fourth largest exporting nation of the world.

•More tourists visit France than any other country in the world.

•French is the lingua franca of culture, including art, cuisine, dance, and fashion. France has won more Nobel Prizes for literature than any other country in the world and is one of the top producers of international films.

•French is ranked the 2nd most influential language in the world.