Gateway Guide to Paris [antikvár]

Looking up the Champs-Elysées from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe INTRODUCTION This little book is written especially for those visiting Paris for the first time. Paris is a very big city, it is moreover a very lovely city, and once having known it the one thing you will long for ever after will be to return. The object of this book is first and foremost to make it easier for you to get to know Paris. Only the essentials are included. An exhaustive guide would need to be 6-7 times bigger. But even though it has been cut down to the essentials, it may still contain things beyond your desires or needs. If so, just skip those passages and concentrate on what you find essential. If you're lucky enough to be off to a holiday in Paris, it wili surely be one of the happiest holidays that you've ever had, and if this book does only something towards helping you to enjoy Paris it will have achieved its aim. LOCATTON Paris lies 48° 50' 11* N. and 2° 20' 14' E. It is the capital of the French Republic and alsó the capital of the Department of the Seine, which encircles it. In its very earliest days Paris stood on the islands in the R. Seine, but it gradually expanded on to both banks of the river and has since continued to spread until it now covers the adjoining hills. Its height above sea level varies from about 100 ft. at the Seine's banks in Grenelle (in SW. Paris) to about 200 ft. at Mont SainteGeneviéve and about 420 ft. at the top of Montmartre. The Seine flows into the city from the eastsouth-east corner; it forms two small islands, St Louis and La Cité, flowing past them to the north-west, then turns south-west, only to swing northwards again as it leaves the city behind. A small tributary, La Biévre, now covered in, flows into the Seine from the south, and from the north just by the Austerlitz Bridge the St-Martin Canal joins the river after having crossed the eastern part of the city. EXTENT The area of the city is not large compared with many other great cities. Parisitself covers about 38 sq. miles and its circumference is 22 miles. From E. to W. its greatest length is 8 miles, and from N. to S. it is about 6 miles in breadth. POPULATION Though in comparison with other cities its area is not large, the story is different where the population is concerned, for Paris is Europe's fourth largest, and the world's seventh largest city. At the last census in 1954 it had 2,850,189 inhabitants, but this figure only related to Paris itself. If the suburbs are included, the figure rises to 5,154,834 inhabitants. Paris is thus the most densely populated city in Europe and for this reason