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What constitutes an overrated attraction lies entirely in the expectations of the beholder. Yet how can those expections be other than inflated? So much of our awareness of the world around us comes through channels which distort it and magnify what we see, creating a standard impossible to live up to.

Notre Dame of Paris, a beautiful, awe-inspiring cathedral, masterwork of engineering daring and testimonial to the power of human faith, has been inflated out of all proportion by larger-than-life screen depictions which show an intimacy impossible to the casual visitor. Who can venture into the high spires? or ring the famous bells? Who can even spot the gargoyles without binoculars? Why should we expect to see a cathedral standing proudly separate from the life of which it is so intrinsic a part? The human eye can't accurately comprehend vertical distance; but we can see the small sea of architecture which has sprung up around the cathedral, to block off even the flying buttresses from our vision and diminish it yet further from our expectations.

Popular images such as the Mona Lisa have been so widely reproduced that the original often comes as a shocked disappointment. So small. So imperfect. So indistinct, held safely at a distance from the eager tourists with flashes and sticky fingerprints - if it is even on display between the many session of restoral and repair. Art galleries all over the world walk a fine line between preservation and display: and public perception invariably suffers as a result. So easy to forget that for all our cultural inundation of perfect reproductions: *this* came first.

Or the Eiffel Tower, single image which has come to stand for an entire rich melange of history and experience: but when we see it up close, what is it after all but a filigree of bolts and steel and light? Certainly do go up it, experience the restaurant and even the skating rink if you can: but remember that beauty often fades when seen too closely.

One of the most unsettling aspects about many of Parisian tourist attractions is how thoroughly they have become part of Parisian everyday life. The Arc de Triomph is a quintessentially Parisian symbol for the world; and yet for Paris itself it becomes little more than a traffic hub, heart of the Champs Elysee and other less famous streets radiating out from the city's centre. Even the famous Notre Dame cathedral has become squirreled away among other buildings. The history is there, but the attitude brings it down

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