Everyone knows the Eiffel Tower. This world famous landmark was built in 1889 and was named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel. It is now one of the worlds biggest tourist traps, but it still keeps in drawing the crowds, around 6,5 million people yearly. An amazing number;, which makes it all more the logical that the queues to go up the tower are so very long. And yes, I've been one of those people as well! On my first visit to Paris I just HAD to go up the tower. And I really enjoyed it!

If the Eiffel Tower is the symbol of Paris, the Arc de Triomph must be a close second. Commenced by Napoleon in 1806, he was long gone before it was finished in 1836. It is interesting that it remains incomplete: the original intention was to add something atop it, as with the Arc de Carrousel in the Tuilleries Gardens, but the question of what should be placed there was never resolved. Beneath the Arch is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, France’s main war shrine.

The Louvre is known for its famous its works of art, but it doesn't only contain art, it is a piece of art by itself! The buildings, that together make up the museum the Louvre, are an impressive sight to see in their own right. The history of the Louvre dates back to 1190, when King Philippe Auguste started building a defensive fortress here. Many changes and additions have been since then, making it the home of the kings and emperors of France. But since 1793 the history of the Louvre changed once again, and it became a museum.

Notre-Dame is now viewed as one of the key defining examples of the style which was to become known as Ile-de-France Gothic, by the early nineteenth century few Parisians valued their medieval past very highly. Interest in the medieval building was largely rekindled by Victor Hugo's novel Notre-Dame de Paris. For twenty years, Viollet-le-Duc worked at Notre-Dame, adding the spire, consolidating the fabric and replacing missing or defaced sculptures.