A Taste of France

Travel

Looking for the low down on France? Try the Lonely Planet for travel without cliché

Want to know what's on in Paris? Try the city of Paris website. And don't miss the Eiffel Tower, Sacré Coeur and Montmartre, the magically beautiful Sainte-Chapelle, the Arc-de-Triomphe, Notre-Dame and the Jardin du Luxembourg

If you're a square, you'll love the Place des Vosges

Whether Jules Verne or the Montgolfier brothers, the TGV or the Channel Tunnel, check out here for French Tourist Office information

Culture, Art, Science
and Literature

And for an online gallery of French art, visit the WebMuseum: David, Delacroix, Courbet, Impressionism, Cézanne, Gauguin, Matisse

Want to go to The Louvre? And did you know? The Louvre is free on the first Sunday of each month.

Whether Monet or Manet, Renoir, Rodin or Art Nouveau, try the Musée d'Orsay, a wonderful art gallery in the old railway station by the Seine.

More than a pipe dream, the Centre Georges Pompidou is the real thing if your taste in art is modern. And if your tastes are medieval, try the Musée de Cluny.

Déjà lu?
The Bibliothèque Nationale de France from Troubadours, Molière, Voltaire, Balzac, Flaubert, Baudelaire, Victor Hugo, Zola, Marcel Proust, Camus, Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir to The Three Musketeers and Asterix

TV, Radio, Newspapers and Cinema

Le Monde Le Figaro Libération

Radio France

Whether avant-garde or en garde, nouvelle vague or Monsieur Hulot, screen this site on French cinema.

Looking for a French phone number? Dial here

Fashion

Whether haute couture or prêt-à-porter, Paris has it if you're looking for style, with Chanel, Cartier, Christian Doir, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Hermès, Yves Saint Laurent and more. And if you want the source, try perfumeries in Grasse in Provence.

France for Kids

Mange tout! Here's the French for a few things you might want to eat: pain au chocolat a tasty pastry with a piece of chocolate inside; frites French fries; croque-monsieur toasted cheese and ham sandwich; chocolat chocolate, and glace ice cream

Restaurant, café, cuisine, apéritif, hors d'oeuvre, entrée, pâté, vinaigrette, soufflé, dessert and gateau are all obvious French words, but many other food words in English are also from French: dinner, appetite, taste, grape, feast, herb, spice, beef, pork, veal, venison, sausage, salad,  fruit, toast, biscuit, oyster, tart, cream, supper, plate, saucer and more!

Did you know? Mardi Gras is French for fat Tuesday - the day when people traditionally ate heartily before fasting for Lent

Want to email the French Prime Minister? Click here

For the Cité with Explora, the Planetarium and the Géode, press here. Did you know that Walt Disney's ancestors were originally from France - d'Isigny!

Astérix Did you know? The name France and money, the Franc, comes from the Germanic people the Franks. Gaul, and Gallic, means the country of the Celts (like Gaelic in Ireland).

Have you heard about Quasi...Quasi...who and Notre Dame? I can't remember his name, but his face rings a bell!

French Youth Hostel Federation

What's that noise? In English a duck might quack, but in France it's coin-coin; a pig oinks in England, but his French cousin will grogner for his truffles. Sheep go bê, dogs go oua, oua, and cats go miaou.

A mouse is called une souris. Did you know the French have had a kind of internet called minitel for several years?

Au Canada! What's the second biggest French-speaking city outside France? Montréal! Check out these sites in Canada in Montréal and Québec

Nature, Sport and Leisure

The Rules for Boules
Boules and Pétanque are very similar. Played in leafy village squares on gravel especially in the South of France, players from two teams aim to get the boule as close as possible to the wooden jack, or cochonnet.

The highest mountain in France is Mont Blanc, the longest river is the Loire.

Whether you're feeling the Mistral, under the weather, acting cool, chilling out, or getting hot, check out the temperature in France today.