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It’s an official map of Paris. The areas numbered from 1 to 20 are the arrondissements of Paris. Each arrondissement has a hall and a mayor.

It’s an official map of Paris before 1860. There were only 12 arrondissements.

Paris took in the nearby towns in 1860, became bigger, and renumbered its arrondissements. Before 1860, there was no 13th arrondissement.

13. That’s why, when in 1860 there was talk of them being renumbered to the 13th arrondissement, the wealthy areas rebelled and demanded to be numbered the 16th (they won).

It meant they were living together without being married. There was no 13th before 1860. In France, you get married by the mayor, or the deputy mayor, of the town where you live, in the town hall, or the arrondissement hall if you live in a town that’s big enough to have arrondissements (Paris, Lyon or Marseilles).

It’s a water fountain. Water falls from the top into the sink at the bottom.

It’s called a Wallace fountain, after Mr. Wallace, who had it made for Paris

There are about 100 of these in Paris. There are also a few of these in other countries, like Spain.

In 1870, the Germans came to Paris and destroyed the aqueducts. The Parisians had no water to drink, so they drank wine, which was very unhealthy. Mr. Wallace was a British philanthropist who presented Paris with ~100 water fountains. They were made in France. They are designed so that only a human can drink, not a horse, not a dog, and one of the women stands for temperance. They’ve been in the streets for ~150 years and still enable people to drink when they’re thirsty. They’re turned off in winter because the pipes might burst when it’s freezing.

Paris has two “saint patrons” : a man and a woman.

The female saint of Paris is Saint Genoveve (Geneviève). She was born about 420 AD and died about 512. She’s also the saint of the police. The tale about her is that it was thanks to her that the Huns of Attila spared Paris in 451.

There are three Sainte-Geneviève churches in Paris:

• Sainte-Geneviève des Grandes-Carrières
• The Abbey Sainte-Geneviève de Paris, now an elite high school and college (that’s where Président Macron studied when he was young)
• The church Sainte-Geneviève, better known as… the Panthéon.

Moonik / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

The male saint of Paris is Saint Denis. He has a funny tale: he was the first bishop of Paris. About 250, he was beheaded by the Romans as a christian martyr, in Montmartre. After his death, he rose, picked up his head in his hands and walked north 6 km (about 4 miles), where he collapsed for good.

VVVCFFrance / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

There, a church was built: the Basilica Saint-Denis, where all the kings of France were buried for centuries:

Chabe01 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

A boat floating on a river. Under it there’s the text “Fluctuat nec mergitur”.

The boat is the symbol of Paris. The latin sentence translates as “it floats and doesn’t sink”. It’s the motto of Paris.
You’ll see it on various buildings: schools, swimming pools, the town hall, the arrondissement halls…

France! Notice how it’s shaped like an hexagon? That’s her nickname: “the Hexagon” (l’Hexagone)

Also France, from an office viewpoint. The small areas are “départements” (there are ~100 of them) and the big areas are “régions”. They all have separate budgets and public offices and civil servants. They all have the same laws and rules.

They’re the oversea lands. The most important are the French Carribeans (Antilles = Guadeloupe + Martinique), the South Pole (Antarctique) and the French Guyana (Guyane).

It’s Notre-Dame-de-Paris, one of the two cathedrals of Paris. A cathedral has a bishop.

“Notre-Dame” litteraly translates as “Our Lady” and “the Virgin Mary”. It means the church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The churches named “Saint-Someone” are dedicated to a saint.

It’s a scallop!

It’s on the path of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. In French, “scallop” is “Coquille Saint-Jacques” and “Santiago de Compostela” is “Saint-Jacques de Compostelle”. There’s a street Saint-Jacques and even a tower Saint-Jacques in Paris:

Vincent de Groot / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA

London, England, United Kingdom. See how it’s green?

Paris, France. See how it’s dense? It’s four times as dense as London

There are two rivers in Paris: one overground and one underground

The Seine

Photo: Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons / “Paris, Seine — 2014 — 1321” / CC BY-SA 4.0

The Bièvre. It was over the ground until it was buried in the beginning of the 20th century.

“Former bed of the Bièvre, only arm” – Photo: JLPC / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

The Bièvre in ruelle des Gobelins – Photo: Wikimedia Commons CC0 (date unknown)

There’s even a Rue de Bièvre (that’s where our former president used to live, because he didn’t like the Elysée Palace)

Photo: Chabe01 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

France since 1794, during the French Revolution (1789-1799). It has changed a little since back then. It’s commonly referred to as “the three-colour flag” (le drapeau tricolore) or “the blue-white-red flag” (le drapeau bleu-blanc-rouge). White is the color of the king and red is for blood.

The European Union, aka E.U. or Europe. There are twelve golden stars circling on a blue background. You’ll see it on public buildings, including, but not limited to, schools and town halls. There used to be a star for each country in the E.U., but not anymore. Today there are 27 countries in the E.U. (28 before the Brexit).