The Da Vinci Code tour
Readers of one of the world's best-selling novels are flocking to see some its settings. Peter Woodman follows the footsteps of Robert Langdon...
Paris is poised to reap huge tourist benefits from the eagerly-awaited movie release of The Da Vinci Code, based on Dan Brown's best-selling novel, which opens in Britain in mid-May.
Even a few weeks before the film comes out, there is evidence of the Da Vinci factor in the French capital.
The Louvre Museum, setting for the explosive start to the book, reported a record number of visitors in 2005, with around 7.3 million people visiting - up from the previous record figure of 6.7 million.
Louvre officials said The Da Vinci Code was partly responsible for the increase in visitors and that they expected the film to inspire an even greater number of visitors.
Starring Tom Hanks, who plays American professor Robert Langdon and French actress Audrey Tautou, who plays cryptologist Sophie Neveu, The Da Vinci Code film was shot partly in the Louvre and includes other scenes in France, England and Scotland.
For our trip to Paris, we travelled on Eurostar, which is leading the international campaign to boost tourism to Da Vinci Code locations, and is actually a partner in the Columbia Pictures film.
Eurostar and other companies are encouraging tourists to take The Da Vinci Code tour through Paris, tracing the footsteps of Langdon and Neveu as they flee their enemies in an attempt to crack the code.
"An increasing number of travellers are visiting The Da Vinci Code trail in the UK and France, and the book is one of the most common items in our lost property office," said a Eurostar spokesman.
Given the excitement generated by the book and film, we decided to start our Paris tour with a trip to the Louvre, home to Leonardo Da Vinci's enigmatic masterpiece the Mona Lisa.
After our journey, we checked in to the Le Meridien Etoile hotel close to the Arc de Triomphe and only a few Metro stops from the museum.
We gazed up at the Mona Lisa, trying to work out what Da Vinci was trying to show in his early 16th century portrait of the wife of Francesco del Gioconda.
Is she smiling or not? That has been the key question down the centuries. The Louvre has loads more to see, of course, not least the glass pyramid outside.
This is a comparatively recent addition and, without giving too much of the Da Vinci Code plot away, the pyramid features in the book.
If the Louvre is a must-see, visitors should also go to Notre Dame, the capital's main cathedral. Started in the 12th century, this magnificent church has always impressed me for its sheer majesty. We marvelled at the huge circular stained-glass windows that rest high up on either side of the front end of the nave.
For even more staggering stained glass, you should go to Saint Chappelle: a small chapel built by Louis IX in the mid-13th century to house relics from the Holy Land believed to be Christ's crown of thorns and part of the true cross.
We went to the upstairs part and gawped in amazement as we were surrounded by immense stained-glass windows. The purple hues were quite wonderful.
Saint Chappelle lies on the Ile de la Cite which together with Ile St-Louis form islands on the River Seine.
The other church which Da Vinci fans shouldn't miss is the stunning St Sulpice, tucked away in an impressive square on the Left Bank with its front door - believe it not - bang opposite Catherine Deneuve's flat.
Not that thousands of visitors this summer will spend a moment thinking about one of France's top film actresses. In Dan Brown's tale, St Sulpice is a possible hiding place for the much sought keystone, and where a bloody murder takes place.
With notices pinned on the wall saying the church has no real connection with events detailed in a recent novel, St Sulpice staff seem even grumpier about The Da Vinci Code than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
But like him, they may be flattened by the sheer volume of gawpers in the coming months.
In any case, Paris offers so much more than links with Da Vinci.
We took one of the popular Bateaux-Mouche pleasure boats which wind their way down the Seine, passing in and out of the two islands. You get an English commentary during these trips, with the various landmarks pointed out as the boat glides past.
The boat gave us excellent views of the Eiffel Tower which can disappoint by day, but sparkles at night.
Some, including myself, find the reddy-brown colours of the structure give the tower a somewhat rusty look in daylight. It is only after dark that the tower comes into its own, the floodlighting transforming it into a shimmering, silver icon.
Our hotel was really handy for a visit to La Defense - a huge Canary Wharf-style office-cum-leisure complex with towering skyscrapers.
La Defense is dominated by the huge Grande Arche de la Defense, which was the brainchild of former French president François Mitter-rand. We took a lift to the top where you get great views of Paris and can stare straight down towards the Arc de Triomphe.
Another good spot to visit - and somewhat off the normal tourist beaten track - is the Place des Vosges in the east of the city.
Novelist Victor Hugo lived in this lovely square of just 36 houses, nine on each side, in the mid-19th century, and the city of Paris eventually bought his house and turned it into a museum.
Hugo wrote a large part of Les Miserables from this spot and the location today is reckoned to be one of the most beautiful urban squares in the world.
