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France

Capital : Paris Language : French, German
Currency : Franc
Area : 543,965 sq km(including the island of Corsica)
Population : 58,027,300
Form of Govt : Presedential Republic

France, republic in western Europe, bounded on the north by the English Channel, the Strait of Dover, and the North Sea (which separate it from Great Britain); on the northeast by Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany; on the east by Germany, Switzerland, and Italy; on the southeast by Monaco and the Mediterranean Sea; on the south by Spain and Andorra; and on the west by the Bay of Biscay (an arm of the Atlantic Ocean). The capital and largest city is Paris.


Major attractions :
Paris: Paris has almost exhausted the superlatives that can reasonably be appplied to a city. Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower- at sunrise, at sunset at night- have been described ad nauseam, as have the River Seine and the subtle (and not-so-subtle) differences between the Left and Right Banks. But what writers have been unable to capture is the grandness and even the magic of strolling along the city's broad avenues, which lead from impressive public buildings and exeptioanal museumsto parks, gardens and esplanades. Paris is enchanting at any time in every season.

Only Venice rivals Paris as the city of romance in the collective imagination of the world. This is the city in which love seems to rule every other arondissement (the euphonic word for a district). This is where the Seine flows past several bridges, none really beautiful, all of them romanticised in myth and modern legend. But there are other Parises too. There is the counter-cultural Paris for this is where the students revolted in the 1960s, holding out against the government in a doomed rebellion. This is where Jim Morrison's and Oscar Wilde's earthly remains lie. There is literary Paris where Gertude Stein made her famous pronouncements, where Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre discussed philosophy, where Ernest Hemingway and F Scott Fitzgerald compared dimensions. There is the Paris of perfumes and haute coutoure, the Paris of markets and open-air cafes, the gastronomic Paris where your wine complements your meal and clears your palate for the next course. There is the Paris of the opera and the ballet, of the Musee d’Orsay and the Louvre. And then there is your Paris, the one you will bring back with you.

Nice: Known as the capital of the Riviera, the fashionable yet relaxed city of Nice (population 342,000) makes a great base from which to explore the entire Cote d'Azur. The city, which did not become part of France until 1860, has plenty of relatively cheap accomodation and is only a short train or bus ride away from the rest of the Riviera. Nice's pebbly beach maybe nothing to write home about, but the city is blessed with a fine collection of museums.

Cannes: The harbour, the bay, Le Suquet hill, the beachside promenade and the bronzed sun worshipperson the beach provide more than enough natural beauty to make Cannes (pop 67,300) worth at least a day trip. It's also fun watching the rich drop their money with such fashionable nonchalance. Canners is renowned for its many festivals and cultural activities, teh most famous being the Interntional Film Festival, which runs for two weeks in mid-May . People come to Cnnnes all year long, but the main season runs from May to October.

Monaco: The principality of Monaco (population 30,000), a sovereign state whose territory covers only 1.95 sq km, has been ruled by the Grimldi family for most of the period since 1297. Prince Rainier III (born in 1923), whose sweeping constitutional powers make him far more than a figurehead, has reigned since 1949. The citizens of Monaco, of whom there are only 5000 out of total population of 30,000, pay no taxes. The official language is French, although efforts areeingmade to revive the country's traditional dialect. There are no border formalities and Monaco makes perfect day trip from Nice.