Day 2a - Paris, 'La Ville-Lumière' (The City of Light)

For the events of Saturday, August 29, 2009

I wanted to give some quick facts about Paris before going on about the trip!

The City of Paris is approx 2.1 million people - about the size of Vancouver, Surrey and Burnaby combined. However, it is the heart of a region called Ile-de-France (almost like a province or state) with a huge population of over 11 million people, all of which is considered 'urban Paris' or 'aire urbaine'. This would make only North American cities Mexico City, New York City and Los Angeles larger in population (sorry Chicago, Paris is bigger!)

Paris is the most powerful financial centre in Europe (yes, produces more GDP than even London) and is in fact the 5th largest city in the world financially. Businesses in Paris and it's suburbs generate over 500 billion euros (about $750 billion!) in output a year. Believe it or not, that's the same as 55% of the entire GDP of Canada in 2005! 38 of the Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in Paris.

I don't usually bother with photos taken by other people in my blog, but this one is so beautiful I just had to, showing a panoramic view over the western side of Paris, at dusk, from the top of the Tour Montparnasse, one of the only skyscrapers in France! (the photo is fuzzy this small, but when you click on it, it'll take your breath away, guaranteed):


Tourism is huge here - last year, 45 million people visited Paris alone. In 2005, according to Stats Canada, 35 million people visited the entire nation of Canada - 10 million less than came to this city alone.

Amazingly enough, Paris has had proof of human habitation since 4,000 BC. Fans of the comic Asterix and Obelix will have heard of the "Gauls" before, people of the Parisii tribe (where the city gets its name) who settled in the area that became Paris between 250 and 200 BC. They founded a fishing village on an island in the river that is the present-day Ile de la Cité - the center around which Paris developed, and the site of the current Notre Dame Cathedral. As an aside, Notre Dame construction began in 1163 - which makes it nearly 850 years old!

The Romans determined to conquer the world, and in 52 BC, invaded modern day Paris and set up a permanent civilization that has remained - for over 2,000 years! Thousands of the first Christians in Europe are buried under the city in the catacombs of Paris!

There's my history, geography and whatever else lesson for the day!