To be in Paris is to be immersed in beauty, not only because of the many fine museums (like the Marmottan, which we visited yesterday), but also because every view is a head-turning one. Whether it’s the Eiffel Tower, Claude Monet’s “Impression, Sunrise,” or an ordinary street corner, it’s worth a second glance.

What would it be like to live in a place optimized for style, from Metro signs to newspaper kiosks to national icons? Would it become humdrum? Knowing human nature, I’m afraid it might. But to the traveler, the city never loses its luster.