Some interesting facts about Paris...

• Six million people visit the Eiffel Tower every year!

• 94% of French school children choose English as either their first or second choice foreign language.

• France produces over 400 different varieties of cheese.

• The Louvre attracts over five millions visitors each year.

• Paris takes its name from the Parisii, a tribe of Gaul's who settled on the Ile de la Cite between 250 and 200 BC.

• Up until 1930 the Eiffel Tower was the tallest building in the world.
• Paris has only 6000 astrologers!

• The Eiffel Tower was only meant to stand for twenty years but it was put into use as a radio tower ensuring its survival for generations to come.

• The first human beings to take flight did so in Paris, in 1783, when the Marquis d'Arlandes rose majestically into the sky in a hot air balloon and managed to stay there for 20 minutes, on November 21.

• St Sulpice church (the church featured in The Da Vinci Code) is actually larger than Notre Dame Cathedral.

• The Eiffel Tower receives a fresh coat of 60 tons of reddish-green paint every seven years. It takes 25 men 15 months to finish the job whilst tethered to 50 km of lifelines. They will get through 1500 brushes during the process.

• The bottom of the Eiffel Tower is painted a darker colour than the top to give a more aesthetic impression to visitors.

• The Louvre is the longest building in Europe, stretching the length of three Eiffel Towers laid end to end.

• There are 65,300 pieces of art in the Louvre and it would take an estimated five weeks to appreciate them all.

• The Eiffel Tower weighs over 7000 tons.

• Many travel insurance policies will not cover holders against accidents suffered on the Etoile roundabout!

• The Arc de Triomphe is based upon the exact specifications (although is a lot taller at 164 foot) of the Arch of Titus in Rome.

• The building of Notre Dame de Paris began in 1163 and it was another two centuries before it was completed.