Paris is the capital of France. The city is by itself a département, and its sprawl form the région Île de France with a population of 12 millions.
History[]
Geography[]
Demographics[]
Neighbourhoods[]
The city of Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements (usually only called by their number).
- The "4th" includes the Île de la Cité (Isle of the City) where is the cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris. On the right bank is the townhall of Paris.
- The "5th" is known as the Quartier Latin : it has three universities (La Sorbonne, Jussieu, Université Pierre & Marie Curie) and all the items of students' life. The Panthéon is the place where Napoléon is buried, as well as other illustrous characters.
- The "8th" is where are the Avenue des Champs Elysées which runs between the Place de l'Etoile (with the Arc de Triomphe) and the Place de la Concorde (with the Obelisk, twin of the one in Washington). The Presidential Palais de l'Elysée is nearby, as are most of the embassies. The Gare St-Lazare (St-Lazare Railway Station) is in the northeast corner of the arrondissement.
Politics[]
Economy[]
Paris is the single most important sprawl in France. Most French companies of international size are headquartered in Paris. Paris Stok Exchange is lagging behind London and to a lesser extent Frankfurt, but not marginalized. Major corporations headquartered in Paris (city or sprawl) are Renault-Fiat, Esprit Industries and its subsidiary Total-Elf, ESUS, Index-Axa, Ares Global Entertainment, Saeder-Krupp's subsidiaries Arianespace and Hermes Eurocom, Aztechnology's subsidiaries HBDML and Dassault, Ford/EMC's subsidiaries Peugeot and Citroën, Cross European Development. Although some corporations are headquartered within XVIIIth Century mansion within the city of Paris (what is called an "hôtel particulier"), the most important corporate district is La Défense directly west of the city of Paris, which features a number of glass towers otherwise fairly rare in Paris sprawl.
Renraku Europa used to be headquartered in Paris, until 2060 when it was merged with Renraku European Operations of Berlin and installed in Munich (sources: Germany SB pp.64,113 and Corporate Download p.79).
Transport[]
Road traffic[]
Subway[]
The Parisian subway (the "Métro" in French, though this is just the short form of the unused Métropolitain) is run by the RATP, a subsidiary of the megacorporation ESUS. All stations are thus extraterritorial area, though ESUS had always authorized to French authorities to intervene when needed.
Railways[]
Paris is the central hub of the French railway system. It's also the only city that the railways don't cross: trains stops in one of the six railway stations in town. Changing trains then involves chaingin stations through subways.
- Gare St-Lazare' (8) trains to and from Normandy.
- Gare du Nord' (10) trains to an from northern France, especially Lille, and London (through the Eurotunnel), Brussels and the rest of northern Europe.
- Gare de l'Est (10) trains to and from eastern France, especially Strasbourg, and Ruhr in Germany.
- Gare de Lyon (12) trains to an from southeast France, especially Lyon and Marseille, and Switzerland and Italy.
- Gare d'Austerlitz (13) trains to and from central and southern France, especially Toulouse, and Spain and Portugal.
- Gare Montparnasse (15) trains to and from western and southwestern France, especially Brittany and Bordeaux, and Spain and Portugal.
All these railway stations are run by the SNCF, a subsidiary of the megacorporation ESUS. There are thus extraterritorial area, though ESUS had always authorized to French authorities to intervene when needed.
Airports[]
International Airports: Orly-2, Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle
Events and sightings[]
Paris has too many monuments to be mentionned, a reason for it to be one of the most visited city in the world. The most famous ones are indeed the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris and the Louvres Museum.
In late january of every year, fashion houses presents their collections for the coming spring-summer season in Paris, New York, Milan. Collections for the next autumn-winter season are shown in early july. Both takes place while the Grand Tour returns to Paris for its "Grand Ball", allowing the guests to choose what they will wear there.
In june, the AGE-Rolland Garros, sponsored by Ares Global Entertainment is a major stapple of the ATP tennis championship. It takes place at Rolland Garros complex directly west of Paris city.
On July 14, the national holiday (called Bastille Day in english, and just 14 juillet by the French), a military parade reviewed by the President goes down the Champs Elysées. It is rather unique by its size, involving armored vehicles and aircrafts (tracked tanks ceased to appear in 2004 after complains from the townhall of the heavy damages they caused to the streets, but were displayed again from the end of the Eurowars in 2036), only rivalled by Sovietic parades.