In France, in exceptional cases it is possible to marry a deceased person with the authorisation of the President of the Republic.
France has the highest wealth tax of any European country.
France is the only EU country to have all its V.A.T. rates with decimal fractions (19.6%, 5.5% or 2.1%). Only Britain and Ireland also use some rates with decimal fractions.
In the town of Chateauneuf-du-Pape in Provence, a municipal law of 1954 prohibits flying saucers from landing within the borders of the municipality.
A Seine-side holiday. That, in a nutshell, is what Paris Plages is all about – complete with sandy beaches, deckchairs, ubiquitous ice cream sellers, and concerts for French and foreign guests. Holidaymakers at the Bassin de la Villette (Paris 19) can also borrow books free of charge, play beach volley, take an aquagym class in a mini pool, or kayak around the lake – or, of course just chill and enjoy. The Seine’s banks become pedestrian and the beaches are spread across different spots:
(Louvre/Pont de Sully, Port de la Gare and Bassin de la Villette).
From the Louvre to Pont de Sully
This was the first beach that opened in 2002. It spans three kilometres through historical Paris, and features a swimming pool, concert stage, and open-air attractions (rollerblading, tai-chi, wall climbing, boules etc.). Refreshment areas, play areas and deckchairs are available for your time out unwinding by the river.
Bassin de la Villette.
This is the latest addition to Paris Plages, and opened in 2007 round Bassin de la Villette (Paris 19). It stretches from Rotonde de Ledoux (nearest Jaurès Metro station) to the former Magasins Généraux (in Rue de Crimée) and features a proper water-sports complex (with rowing boats, kayaks, pedal boats and dinghies) alongside quaint quay-side restaurants and boules courts.
Every year, Paris Plages begins around 20 July and lasts four weeks.
All Paris Plages beaches are open non-stop from 8.00 am to midnight.
2012 : Paris Plages will start around July 20.
Crêpes, one of the most popular food in Europe, originate from Brittany, in western France.
Wine has been made in France since Roman times.
There are 450 different wine appellations in France. There are tens of thousands of small wine-producing domains, but only 15% of all French wines enjoy the marketing benefits of AOC designations.
Bordeaux alone has over 9,000 different châteaux.
72% of the adult French population finds it difficult to understand French wine labels.
In 2004, France produced 56.6 millions hectoliters of wine.
Wines from the North of France (e.g. Alsace) are usually made from a single variety of grape (e.g. Pinot Noir), whereas wines further south are typically blends of varietals (e.g. Carbernet Sauvignon + Merlot), which is why they do not mention them on the label like in Australia, California, Chile or South Africa.
France produces some of the world’s most famous liqueurs, such as Grand Marnier, Cointreau, Triple Sec, Mandarine Napoleon, Cognac, Armagnac, Crème de Cassis, Pastis, Chartreuse, etc.
The international market of Rungis, in a southern suburb of Paris, covers 232-hectares (573 acres). With 1.7 million tonnes brought annually, it has the largest turnover of any wholesale markets in the world.
France is the world’s leader in luxury goods, including haute couture, perfumes and cosmetics.
France is the world’s first producer of wine and liquors.
France is the first producer of nuclear electricity in Europe and second producer in the world after the United States. France produces as much nuclear electricity as Germany, the UK, Spain and Russia combined!
France has the third highest GDP (PPP) per capita per hour in the world, after Norway and Luxembourg, with an average of US$ 38.16 per hour.
The Millau Viaduct, completed in 2005 in the south of France, is the tallest bridge in the world.
The largest and most advanced passenger cruise ship, the Queen Mary 2, was built in France in 2004.
The France-based Arianespace is the world leader in commercial space launch, with over 50% of the global market for launching satellites.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is based in Paris, while the headquarters of the pan-European aerospace concern Airbus are in Toulouse.
The French TGV is one of the fastest train in the world, with an average speed of 263.3 km/h from station to station. It reached a record 574.8km/h on a test run in April 2007. At the time, it held the world record of endurance, running from Calais to Marseille (1067.2 km) in 3h29min, in 2001.
Charles De Gaulle International Airport in Paris is Europe’s busiest airports by cargo traffic (6th in the world).
The Société Bic was the world’s first mass manufacturer of ball-point pens. It sold its 100,000 millionth ball pen in 2005.
There are some 40,000 châteaux (castles, manors, palaces…) in France.
Famous French inventions include the adding machine, the hot air balloon, the airship, the parachute, the submarine, the ambulance service, photography, animation and cinema.
France is the country that has won the most Nobel prizes for literature (13 as of 2005, with the last prize going back to 1985).
French people are the second biggest consumers of alcohol per capita in the Western world – after Luxembourg…
A 2007 study revealed that the French were the biggest consumers of medicines in Europe, both in quantity and total money spent per person.
There are over 300 kinds of cheese made in France.
There are 28 categories of sites in France listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, including 3 Roman sites (Arles, Orange and Le Gard), 4 cathedrals (Amiens, Bourges, Chartres, Reims), 4 abbeys (Fontenay, Reims, Saint-Savin sur Gartempe and Vezelay), 8 historic city/town centres (Paris, Strasbourg, Lyon, Avignon, Le Havre, Mont-Saint-Michel, Provins and Carcassone) as well as numerous belfries, castles and palaces.
More tourists visit France each year than any other country in the world, with 67 million annual tourist arrivals (more than the country’s population).
The spectacle “Ionesco” has been playing at the Théâtre de La Huchette since 1957, with over 15,000 performances – a world record.
There are about 2 new cooking books published every day in France.
Pop singer Claude François (1939-1978) is still as popular as ever in France 30 years after his accidental death. Two of his songs have remained constantly in the top 10 of music played in night club for the last 20 years. A real cult has developed around him. In many ways, Claude François can be regarded as the French equivalent of Elvis Presley.
About one fourth of French people nowadays choose to be cremated when they die, instead of the traditional Catholic burial.
French used to be the language of the nobility and diplomacy all across Europe and in the Ottoman Empire, it was the world’s first real international language until English replaced it in the mid-20th century.
Metropolitan France counts several native regional languages : Alsatian and Lorraine German, Occitan, Oïl, Basque, Breton, Catalan, Corsican and Franco-Provençal.
In spite of foreign stereotypes, many French people can speak at least one foreign language, and English is the most widely spoken at 34%.
A survey in 1794 revealed that a mere 11% of the population of France were pure French speakers. As late as in 1880, only 20% of the population could actually speak French fluently. Nowadays, 86% of French people are native French speakers if this is defined by the language their parents spoke with them before the age of 5. Oc languages account for 3.65%, Oïl languages for 3.10%, German and German dialects for 3.15%, and Arabic for 2.55%.
French was the official language of England for over 300 years (from 1066 until the early 15th century). It is still the official language of 30 countries worldwide.
The French language is spoken by 270 million people worldwide (almost as much as the population of the USA), of which 120 million are native or fluent. There are less than 60 million of White Caucasian native speakers of standard French worldwide.
The variety of French spoken in Quebec, Canada, is a distant dialect from the French spoken in Europe, and sometimes hard to understand for French people.
France is the third largest European country in terms of land area, after Russia and the Ukraine.
Nearly 20% of the territory of France lies outside Europe. These regions are known as “DOM-TOM”, where over 2.5 million French citizens live.
The Canal du Midi is Europe’s oldest functional canal. It was built from 1666 and 1681. It is 240 km (150 miles) long, has 63 locks, 126 bridges, 55 aqueducts, 7 canal-bridges, 6 barrages and 1 tunnel.
Rivers played a major role in French history, acting as the main transportation routes before the advent of the railway. 24 rivers in France exceed 300 km in length (against only 2 in the UK and 4 in Italy). 66 of the 95 metropolitan départements are named after rivers.
The tides in the region of Brittany and Normandy are the strongest in Europe, with a difference in level of up to 15 meters between high and low tide.
Saint-Véran (Hautes-Alpes department) is the highest municipality in Europe. The village itself is located at 2,042 metres of altitude, and the highest point on its territory reaches up to 3,175 metres.
Seaside resorts in France were given catchy or poetic names, typically after precious stones. On the Channel and North Sea coast you can find the Opal Coast, Alabaster Coast, Mother-of-pearl Coast, Emerald Coast, Pink Granit Coast; on the Atlantic coast, some beaches are known as the Jade Coast, Silver Coast or Love Coast ; while on the Mediterrnean side, tourists are greeted with colourful names like the Amethyst Coast, Ruby Coast, Mauresque Coast or Azure Coast. The French Riviera (Côte d’Azur) was the first to aquire such a nickname, in 1887.
The largest canyon in Europe is the Verdon Gorge, near Castellane and Moustiers-Sainte-Marie. It is the world’s second largest gorge, at about 25 kilometers in length and up to 700 meters deep.
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