A TOWERING BEAUTY EIFFEL TOWER A family of tourists wanders the streets of Paris Everywhere they go the Eiffel Tower is visible in the distance When it first opened in 1889 the people of Paris thought it was ugly Now it is a world-famous landmark 4
OTHER TOP SITES FRENCH RIVIERA LOUVRE MUSEUM MONT SAINT-MICHEL VERSAILLES The Eiffel Tower stands 1,063 feet 324 meters high The family zips up to the top in an elevator From the top the city of Paris is spread out at their feet Historic landmarks like the Arc de Triomphe stand proudly amid the buildings and traffic of a modern city This is France 5
LOCATION France is the largest country in Western Europe covering 212,935 square miles 551,500 square kilometers The capital city Paris is in north-central France The Bay of Biscay is to France’s west The English Channel borders France to the northwest and to the northeast are Belgium and Luxembourg Germany Switzerland and Italy line the eastern border Spain Andorra and the Mediterranean Sea are south The island of Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea is also part of France Along France’s southern coast the tiny country of Monaco occupies less than 1 square mile 2 6 square kilometers of land 6 ENGLISH CHANNEL BAY OF BISCAY SPAIN
BELGIUM NOT JUST IN EUROPE Five overseas territories are also considered part of France One is in South America Two are islands in the Caribbean Sea and two are islands near southern Africa PARIS LUXEMBOURG GERMANY FRANCE LYON SWITZERLAND TOULOUSE MARSEILLE NICE MONACO ANDORRA MEDITERRANEAN SEA ITALY CORSICA 7
