There are over 200 museums in Paris. The Musée du Louvre, one of the world's most important museums, opened in 1793. There are over 35,000 exhibits in the building, covering everything from antiquity to modernity. Among them is the Mona Lisa, the world famous work of art by Leonardo da Vinci.

In the north of Paris on the 130-meter (426-foot) hill of Montmartre, somewhat hidden on the Square Jéhan-Rictus is the "Le mur des je t’aime" or "The I love you wall." Over an area of 40 square meters artists wrote the phrase "I love you" on 612 tiles in over 300 languages.

Coco Chanel is regarded as someone who revolutionized ladies' fashions because she fired the corset. Christian Dior designed the "New Look" and Yves Saint Laurent invented the trouser suit for women. Today the fashion tsar Karl Lagerfeld holds court in Paris. For German actress Romy Schneider, Paris was a revelation. She said "In Paris I learned to live and love, to move and above all to dress."

Thinking, debating and reinventing the world - the Café de Flore in the artists' quarter of Saint-Germain-des-Prés has always represented the free-thinking spirit of the metropolis on the Seine. In the 1930s, the Bohème would meet here to debate matters late into the night. The Café de Flore is known in history as one of the places Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre often frequented.

Some 350,000 techno music fans danced through the streets of Paris in September. A love of music defines the city: from electronic beats to rock and classical music all the way to chansons. "Paris is the only place where people can truly live the way they want to," conductor Sergiu Celibidache said of his chosen home.

The French love good food and company, and there is no better place than Paris to try on this way of life. It doesn't even have to be a Michelin-starred restaurant. The heart of original French cuisine beats in the brasseries with their tiny tables on the trottoir. Family-run restaurants tend to be a good bet when it comes to great flavors and a warm welcome.

The banks of the Seine River have been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991. There are 37 bridges connecting the southern banks ("rive gauche") with the northern shores ("rive droite").

The nation's pride resides on the Place de la République, one of the biggest squares in Paris. Watching over it all from the central monument is Marianne, symbolizing the French Republic, and showing how it was created. In 2013, the square was made into a pedestrian zone. More recently it has become a place to gather to show solidarity, mourning and resistance to acts of terror.