麻豆约拍

PARIS
Travel from London St Pancras International to Paris, Gare du Nord can now be done in just two hours and fifteen minutes, making the possibility of a weekend break in Paris all the more achievable. Awaiting the traveller, as ever, is the Eiffel Tower but are the little bistros and the charming boutiques still there? And for the regular visitor to the city is it always the same tourist attractions?

Sandi Toksvig talks to a resident, Dr Andrew Hussey, Head of the Department of French and Comparative Studies at the University of London Institute in Paris and the author of Paris: the Secret History and two regular visitors to the French capital, Carolyn Boyd, the editor of France Magazine and Marc Roche, London correspondent for the French newspaper Le Monde.

They debate whether the city is developing and modernising without losing its unique character and wonder whether the recent riots and strikes are putting visitors off.