Paris | |
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State | |
Country | |
Capital | |
Population | 2187526 |
Paris (French pronunciation: [paʁi] (listen)) is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,148,271 residents as of 2020, in an area of more than 105 square kilometres (41 square miles). Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of Europe's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, fashion, science and arts. The City of Paris is the centre and seat of government of the Île-de-France, or Paris Region, which has an estimated official 2020 population of 12,278,210, or about 18 percent of the population of France. The Paris Region had a GDP of €709 billion ($808 billion) in 2017. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit Worldwide Cost of Living Survey in 2018, Paris was the second most expensive city in the world, after Singapore, and ahead of Zürich, Hong Kong, Oslo and Geneva. Another source ranked Paris as most expensive, on a par with Singapore and Hong Kong, in 2018.The city is a major railway, highway and air-transport hub served by two international airports: Paris–Charles de Gaulle (the second busiest airport in Europe) and Paris–Orly. Opened in 1900, the city's subway system, the Paris Métro, serves 5.23 million passengers daily; it is the second busiest metro system in Europe after the Moscow Metro. Gare du Nord is the 24th busiest railway station in the world, but the first located outside Japan, with 262 million passengers in 2015. Paris is especially known for its museums and architectural landmarks: the Louvre was the most visited art museum in the world in 2019, with 9.6 million visitors. However, the number of visitors plunged by 72 percent to 2.7 million visitors in 2020, due to the COVID virus and the drop in the number of foreign visitors.
The Musée d'Orsay, Musée Marmottan Monet, and Musée de l'Orangerie are noted for their collections of French Impressionist art.
Bucharest | |
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State | |
Country | Romania |
Capital | |
Population | 1883425 |
Bucharest (UK: BOO-kə-REST, US: -rest; Romanian: București [bukuˈreʃtʲ] (listen)) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial center. It's in the southeast of the country, at 44°25′57″N 26°06′14″E, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than 60 km (37.3 mi) north of the Danube River and the Bulgarian border.
Bucharest was first mentioned in documents in 1459. It became the capital of Romania in 1862 and is the center of Romanian media, culture, and art. Its architecture is a mixture of historical (Neoclassical and Art Nouveau), interbellum (Bauhaus, and Art Deco), communist era and modern. In the period between the two World Wars, the city's elegant architecture and the elegance of its elite earned Bucharest the nickname of'Paris of the East' (Romanian: Parisul Estului) or'Little Paris' (Romanian: Micul Paris). Although buildings and districts in the historic city center were heavily damaged or destroyed by war, earthquakes, and even Nicolae Ceaușescu's program of systematization, many lived and have been renovated. In recent years, the town has been undergoing an economic and cultural boom. It's one of the fastest-growing high-tech cities in Europe, according to Financial Times, CBRE, TechCrunch, and many others. UiPath, a global startup based in Bucharest, has reached over $10 billion in valuation. Since 2019, Bucharest hosts the biggest high tech summit in Southeast Europe (Romania Blockchain Summit).