Paris, France

Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It is situated on the Seine River, in the north of the country, at the heart of the Ile-de-France region. Within its administrative limits, the city had 2,243,833 inhabitants in 2010 while its metropolitan area is one of the largest population centres in Europe with more than 12 million inhabitants. An important settlement for more than two millennia, by the late 12th century Paris had become a walled cathedral city that was one of Europe's foremost centres of learning and the arts and the largest city in the Western world until the turn of the 18th century.  Source