Paris has no problem living up to the painted images and movie myths with which we're all familiar. Indeed, the whole city is something of a work of art. Two thousand years of shaping and reshaping have resulted in monumental building, sweeping avenues, grand esplanades and celebrated bridges. Many of its older buildings have survived intact, having been spared the ravages of flood and fire and saved from Hitler's intended destruction.
Controversial buildings like the Eiffel
Tower, the Sacré-Coeur, the Pompidou Centre – have in their turn
become well-known symbols of the city. Yet for all the tremendous
pomp and magnificence of its monuments, the city operates on a very
human scale, with exquisite, secretive little nooks tucked away off
the Grands Boulevards and very definite little communities revolving
around games of boules and the local boulangerie and café.
Source: Rough
Guides