For sheer aestheticism, it?s hard to beat Paris in the spring. Nay, change hard to impossible. Its cultural landmarks, cafés and parks make it easy to understand why the French capital is the number one tourist destination in the world. The 27 million tourists that gravitate to this city every year like sci-fi geeks to a Star Trek convention certainly wouldn?t disagree.

If visitors seem to outnumber locals two-to-one (the ratio is even higher in summer when Parisians flock south), the coexistence is remarkably bon enfant. For Mauritius, which aspires to welcoming two million tourists by 2015, the French capital provides an inspirational, if daunting, role model.

Although 20% of the city?s visitors are American and British, people from the four corners of the globe flock to what many consider to be the most romantic place on Earth. On the Champs-Elysées, Chinese tourists smile excitedly while having their pictures taken in front of one of the world?s most recognizable landmarks, the Arc de Triomphe. The folks back home will surely be green with envy. With its reputation of being ?the world?s most romantic city?, Paris exerts an almost mystic pull on the Chinese psyche.

Incidentally, the Arc de Triomphe contains an inscription commemorating La Bataille de Grand-Port, which took place off the South-East coast of Mauritius in 1810. This battle opposed the French and British fleets and was the only naval confrontation from which Napoleon emerged victorious.

One of the great things about Paris is its wonderful public transport system. Its metro and bus systems allow people to visit a maximum number of sights at a minimum cost. Moreover, the Vélib? public bicycle rental operation introduced by socialist mayor Bertrand Delanoe offers tourists and locals alike an environmentally-friendly way of getting around.

<B>Bohemian chic and jammed cafés</B>

The peerless elegance of the Place des Vosges, which is the city?s oldest square, provides a welcome escape from the hustle and bustle of the Champs-Elysées. It comes as no surprise that the great French author Victor Hugo wrote most of his masterpiece Les Misérables in a house just off the square. People can now visit this literary landmark, transformed into a museum, the imaginatively named Maison de Victor Hugo.

A quick metro ride takes you to St-Germain-des-Prés and the bohemian chic of its restaurants and shops. The cafés are jam-packed with French football fans gleefully watching the Italian team?s 0-3 rout by the Dutch (the French still haven?t forgiven the Squadra Azzurra for their controversial victory in the 2006 World Cup final, which marked an ignominious end to Zinédine Zidane?s illustrious career). However, they were a noticeably less rowdy during France?s lacklustre nil-nil draw with Romania.

<B>Heaven on earth</B>

Another short metro ride brings you to the bucolic St.- Martin canal. A stroll along the 4.5km waterway feels like a plunge into a Monet painting, so potent is the pastoral feel that pervades the place. Picnicking couples crowd its banks like litter on a pavement in Naples.

One of the city?s main draws is undoubtedly its artistic legacy. Many of the world?s greatest painters, writers and sculptors lived in Paris. The authorities realized the marketability of this cultural heritage a long time ago and made sure that it became an intrinsic component of the Paris experience. ?When good Americans die, they go to Paris?, Oscar Wilde once wrote. Whether this is true or not is uncertain, but some great Americans did indeed choose to perish in Paris. Jim Morrison of the seminal 1970s rock band The Doors, for example, died in mysterious circumstances in his Paris apartment and was buried at the Père- Lachaise cemetery. His grave is still visited by thousands of fans every year. Incidentally, Oscar Wilde is also interred in the sprawling Gothic graveyard.

Another literary giant, Ernest Hemingway, also enjoyed a lengthy sojourn in the French capital. He might not have died in Paris but he was of the opinion that: ?If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast.?

Possibly the most flattering thing ever said about Paris tumbled off the lips of Friedrich Nietzsche. The dour German philosopher believed that ?an artist has no home in Europe, except in Paris?. He was definitely not one to give compliments lightly.

By the same token, ?a tourist has no heaven on earth except in Paris?.