The city of lights, the city of love, the city of pleasure and amusement, the epicenter of taste and culture, call it what you want and you will still run out of things to say about how wonderful Paris is.  Situated on the river Seine in the north of France, Paris is one of the most well known places in world.

Most people believe that love is a once in a lifetime occurrence, obviously these people haven’t been to Paris.  The city provides more than just attractions or places of interest.  When you step onto the city streets, you will surely be blanketed by a distinct ambiance of romance not found anywhere else.

Sometimes, just sitting idly in one of the hundreds of cafes is enough to be overwhelmed by the city’s grandeur.  But, if by any chance you manage to shake off the feeling of paralyzing amazement, then you can start visiting the cities most important places, those which makes Paris what it is and what it has been.

Making your way to these historic venues should be considered as sights and activities in itself.  You’ll be treated to an inspiring journey the minute you exit your hotel room.  Paris offers more than 750 hotels ranging from the affordable (Hôtel le Parisien Saint-Lazare) to the ritzy (Maurice Belle Etoile Suite).

While walking is considered to be the most scenic way to see Paris there are rail systems, called the Metro, and cabs to help you rest your feet while on your way to more far off places.

Museums are a dime a dozen in Paris, but the crème de la crème is surely the Musee du Louvre.  Here you can take guided tours, or be brave enough to venture around its seemingly endless halls by yourself, and see firsthand the most seminal pieces of art (by the thousands) ever produced by Western culture.

Of course, there’s also one of the Seven Wonders of the World, a little thing called the Eiffel Tower.  Engineered by Gustave Eiffel, it is the tallest building in all of Paris.  200,000,000 people have visited it since 1889, and you owe to yourself to be number 200,000,001.  Seeing Paris from its peak should be on anyone’s bucket list.

No trip to a foreign country would be complete without tasting the local delicacy.  Fortunately, French cuisine just happens to provide some of the best dishes.  Tickle your palette while eating at the many local restaurants scattered throughout the city.  If ever you get full to the brim with escargot and baguettes, you can also try restaurants specializing in African, American, Belgian, British & Irish, Central European, Chinese, East European, French, German & Austrian, Greek, Indian, Indonesian, Italian, and Japanese to name few.

There are many more things to do and see in Paris such as Notre Dame, Centre Pompidou, Cite de Sciences at de l’Industrie, and the Arc de Triomphe.  But whatever these are, no description would ever give them justice, for they should be experienced.

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Food has been strongly used to establish the identity of most European countries. But if you come to think about it, most of these foods originated not in their prided land, but from the invaded tribes in the new world that they discovered.

Chocolate has to be everyone’s guilty pleasure. The texture of creamy bitter-sweetness melting in your mouth will definitely make you reach out for more. Spain has found countless ways to produce good chocolate since they were the first European country to use it. But they were not the first to use it in the whole world. Chocolate has been an important drink in Mayan and Aztec cultures in pre-colonial South America where the cacao plant is abundant. The Spanish, in their travels to the new world, introduced the much-loved chocolate to the rest of Europe, then the rest of the world.

Cheese is also big in Europe. The Dutch especially has embedded cheese-production in their national tradition and culture. Gouda, Edam, Alkmaar and Hoorn are the major cheeses from Holland. But legend, no matter how varied the versions are, says that cheese originated from Asia. Middle East back then made portable water containers out of animal stomach skin because it is water proof. A stomach enzyme from the container called rennet causes milk to curdle. So when the stomach was used to contain milk, it came out as cheese after some time.

Lastly and most surprisingly, pasta which gave Italians much pride and identity is not an indigenous produce. Same as with the origin of cheese, there are different versions of the story but they all come down to the same conclusion that Italian pasta that we enjoy today did not exactly come from Italy. Marco Polo is said to have brought pasta from China. But even before Marco Polo, Italy already had food similar to pasta, but it was baked rather than boiled so it really isn’t the same pasta that we enjoy now. It was during the Arab invasion that Italy learned about dried noodles. Since then, Italians widely produced pasta.

Years of voyages to and discoveries of the new world led to centuries of colonization. People usually perceive the colonized countries to be heavily influenced and molded by their European conquerors. But what people do not recognize is that there was cultural exchange between the conquistadors and the “savages” of the past. Though the explorers taught religion, systems of government and education, these Europeans also learned and took a lot from the cultures of the colonized. Asia and South America provided the rest of the world with timeless luxuries for the palate.

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