"Bonjour Paris!" Paris by clueless83

Considering that the city is just a short Euro Star train ride away from where I live, its a wonder that I have only visited the French capital once.

Paris, much like New York, is a city of cliches. City of romance. Fashion capital. I'm not going to deny those things but rather than gush about candlelit dinners for two and designer boutiques, I will say that Paris charmed me. I guess I'm not being very imaginative by having a photograph of the Eiffel Tower as my main page picture but the Eiffel Tower is to Paris what the Opera House is to Sydney - no explanation needed, you know where you are. Thats what I love about landmarks.

The charm of Paris is really difficult to put into words. Once we'd got over the initial stress of navigating our way around the metro and then taking several wrong turnings finding our hotel, Paris was pleasant. We had perfect sightseeing weather on a sunny August weekend.

One final thought: The Eiffel Tower, believe it or not, is not visible from every hotel room in Paris, like the movies would have you believe... but you knew that anyway didn't you? ;-)

• Pros:Parisian charm
• Cons:Being pestered around the Eiffel Tower