Hello Paris - Bonjour Paris

Paris, the city, and the capital of France, situated in the north-central part of the country. People were living on the site of the present-day city, located along the Seine River some 233 miles (375 km) upstream from the river’s mouth on the English Channel (La Manche), by about 7600 BCE. The modern city has spread from the island (the Île de la Cité) and far beyond both banks of the Seine. Cultural Life Paris has for centuries been regarded as the main cultural powerhouse of the Western world, a magnet for artists and intellectuals, and a place where new ideas originate and art reigns supreme. This notion was especially true in the early part of the 20th century, when the city was favored by numerous expatriate writers and artists, including Ernest Hemingway from the United States, James Joyce from Ireland, Pablo Picasso from Spain, and Amedeo Modigliani from Italy. While some critics have maintained that Parisian culture has become more a matter of show and dazzle than of true creativity, the city’s cul