And I'll bet you thought there would be a picture of the Eiffel Tower here?
No, actually the symbol of Paris, which comes from the official Coat of Arms of Paris, has long been a ship! This dates to 1358 and the reign of Charles V (NOT 1111 as is listed on the English version of this Wikipedia page, according to one of our French readers; it's so frustrating when Wikipedia gets it so blatantly wrong).
You will often see the ship on public buildings, such as this elementary school, and I've also spotted them on the elevated tracks of the line 2 and line 6 metro.
Next time you're in Paris, see how many ships you can count!
Did you also know that the reason the French flag has the tricolore theme of blue, white and red? It's because the colors of Paris are red and blue (the red for Saint Denis and the blue for Saint Martin), and the white was the King's official color.
