The City of Light



Not Shattrath City. Paris, the capital of France.

In its administrative area (the 75 postal area, split up into twenty numbered administrative districts called "arrondissements", although these sort of things exist all over France), also known as "downtown Paris", the population is only about 2 million, but the urban sprawl adds another ten million to that (making it the largest urban area in the European Union and the second-largest in Europe, after Moscow). The region roughly in a 50 km radius around Paris is known as Ile-de-France, and its inhabitants are called "Franciliens".

It has four ring roads (London Town only has two), the inner most being the division between the main city and the very poor suburbs... Or the very rich: the GDP per capita of the "Hauts de Seine" (the rich suburbs to the North West of Paris) is close to the GDP per capita of the district of Columbia, while the GPD per Capita of some parts of the "Seine Saint Denis" (the poorer eastern suburbs) is closer to that of parts of eastern Europe: you can go from the posher parts of the city to the poorer ones in 40 minutes by the subway. People of a prudish disposition should avoid Pigalle.

Paris is most famous for its wide boulevards, copied in several other cities around the world. There's of course the Eiffel Tower, originally intended as the entrance arch for the 1889 World's Fair and holding the "tallest building in the world" title until the Chrysler Building took it in 1930. Other famous buildings include the Louvre art gallery, the Arc de Triomphe and the Moulin Rouge.

The city was pretty much untouched by the two world wars- the Germans only got into shelling range of the suburbs in the first, Paris surrendered in 1940 to avoid its destruction, the German commander surrendered it in 1944 against Hitler's orders to destroy it if he couldn't defend it and nobody wanted to bomb the place.

Also famous about Paris is its incredible mass transit system, which both includes the iconic Le Metropolitain as well as other lesser known but equally functional networks.

Seriously, where to begin?


 * Genre Savvy: The Baron Georges Eugene Haussmann created the wide boulevards to avoid barricades in case of rebellion (which happened quite often in his nineteenth century).
 * According to Urban Legend they had to be large enough to fire cannonballs.
 * Shining City: It's often depicted as shining at night, and brightly colored during the day.