Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Reasons to be in France

1. Feeling the warm summer breeze in your hair as you cycle through fields of golden sunflowers in the Loire Valley.
2. Champagne: drink it at St Pancras, drink it on the Eurostar, then drink it in the eponymous region, surrounded by the vines that provide us with the world’s best bubbles.
3. Strolling through the old town of the ‘pink city’ Toulouse to the strains of an accordion.
4. Going green? By holidaying in France, your carbon footprint couldn’t get smaller – unless you stay in Britain.

5. French museums are dedicated to subjects as diverse as chocolate (in Biarritz), corkscrews (Ménerbes) and comic strips (Angoulême).
6. From the shores of Normandy to the white and sandy idylls on the Ile de Ré, beach lovers are spoiled for choice – and don’t forget the beaches surrounding the inland lakes.
7. The iconic chariot that is the Citroën 2CV. It’s hardy, is only two horsepower and celebrates its 60th birthday this year.



8. Paris: From cocktails at the Ciel de Paris restaurant on the 56th floor of the Tour Montparnasse to the catacombs beneath the Place Denfert-Rochereau, the capital has everything anyone could ask of a city.
9. France gave the world Michelin stars and dozens of the world-famous chefs who earn them.
10. You can spend five hours sitting in a pavement café watching the world go by and the waiters will simply befriend you rather than move you on.
11. What other country thinks nothing of naming its towns Condom, Brest and Largeasse?
12. Watching the Sun set over the rocky island of Mont St-Michel in Normandy, the orange sky reflecting from the still shallow water that surrounds it.
13. It gave us Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Yves Saint-Laurent and a host of famous fashionistas to model their designs – including the first lady, Carla Bruni.
14. In the countryside, the men really do wear berets.
15. The Gallic shrug; it says so much without a single word.
16. Standing in fields of deep purple lavender and breathing in its heady scent in the Luberon, upper Provence.
17. Two-hour lunch breaks. All the shops may close, so if you can’t beat them, join them in their three-course meal, complete with two different wines and a café noir to finish.
18. Its 800,000 hectares of vineyards produce hundreds of wines, each boasting a different ‘terroir’ (that untranslatable term that denotes a wine’s character).
19. Watching the arcade wing of Château de Chenonceau rise from the morning mist over the river Cher in the Loire Valley.
20. The magnificent Millau Viaduct that hangs over the Tarn valley, its white pylons towering up into the azure sky. It’s the world’s highest bridge and an awesome sight from whichever angle you approach it.
21. Spirits: from the well-known cognacs of Remy-Martin and Martell to the lesser-known whiskies of Brittany and the various eaux de vie (fruit brandy) particular to nearly every village in the country.
22. Standing in Paris’s Musée d’Orsay and taking in the magnifi cent works of Monet, Cézanne, Manet, Renoir and Degas.
23. The snow-capped peaks in the Alps and Pyrenees, extinct volcanoes in the Auvergne, rocky outcrops of Corsica and the rolling hills of the Gers. This country offers every kind of landscape.
24. The French jazz scene in the cellar bars of Paris.
25. With Roman architecture such as the Pont du Gard and the amphitheatres at Nîmes and Arles, who needs Italy?
26. The feeling of tranquillity and peaceful solitude as you watch a golden eagle soar high above you in the Mercantour national park.
27. This is the country that gave us cinema and, 60 years later, directors such as Francois Truffaut and Luc Besson have shown us it can be an art form rather than just entertainment.
28. You can bed down in a chic chateau, gypsy caravan, tree house, a yurt or anywhere else that takes your fancy.
29. Spotting wild horses and flamingos in the Camargue.
30. There’s no better place to sink your teeth into a warm croissant with creamy butter and sweet strawberry jam.


Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2008/05/06/30-reasons-to-visit-france-125414/#ixzz42wqbOBSx


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