h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ahhh, the City of Light. I spent a week there years ago - it had been the dream of my life to do so. I can highly recommend the scenery, the history, the museums.

You must see the Louvre of course. (and walk in the lovely nearby Tuileries garden). See the paintings (Mona Lisa!) and the sculptures (Venus de Milo!) The next must-see museum is the Musée d'Orsay (Monet, Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Cézanne). And the Rodin museum - his exquisite sculpture in his beautiful estate - make sure you see "The Kiss".

Notre-Dame de Paris - there I especially loved the Rose Window, the main entrance doors, and the gargoyles.

You must take a walk in the Bois de Bologne. Climb up inside the L'Arc de Triomphe. You must look out over Paris from the Eiffel Tower.

Walk along the Champs Elysee, dine in a sidewalk cafe there. See the beautiful statues and fountains in the parks. The historic bridges over the Seine. I missed Versailles, but you should not!

The city, the history is so overpowering. On one sad note - hopefully not still true - the people seemed unfriendly. I remember wondering how they could live in such beauty and history and not be awed by it. But the same is probably true in any megacity (seems so in New York anyway) - crowded conditions make people irritable.

As you point it out, crowded conditions do, indeed, make people hostile. Although I am French, and most definitely Parisian, I have been living in New York City for now about two years - and, trust me, New Yorkers are not friendly at all compared with Parisians.

A short point about the "City of Lights", however. Paris was first called the "City of Lights" in the 17th Century, when king Louis 13th ordered that lights remain on all night in the streets of Paris as a response to devastating rates of criminality.