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My pictures of France
This page provides a list of the main things to see in France. "++" identifies the top attractions.
Legenda:
abbaye = abbey
basilique = basilica
bourg = town
chateau = castle
eglise = church
grotte = cave
place = square
quartier = quarters
ville = city
Northeast (Belgique, Allemagne)
Beauvais: cathedral (13th c), Saint-Etienne (choir)
Amiens (Pays du Nord): cathedral (1266) (+west portal, relief of central portal, facade, nave, eastern view, +choir)
Thiepval (Pays du Nord): Edwin Luytens' Memorial to the Missing (1925)
Arras (Pays du Nord): grand place, place des heros
Boulogne-Sur-Mer (Pays du Nord): ville haure
Saint-Omer (Pays du Nord): basilique
Laon (Ardenne): ++cathedral (1151-1290) (nave, nave vault, six-part vaults, transept, exterior, facade, three-storey chapels, choir)
Loyon (Ardenne): +cathedral (1150-1235) (south transept, exterior of the transept, choir, facade)
Reims (Ardenne): ++cathedral (1211-1300) (choir, ambulatory, nave, southwest exterior, southeast view, facade, relief of central portal)
Troyes (Ardenne): quartier Saint-Jean, Saint-Urbain (1262) (choir)
Colmar (Alsace): bourg, +altar
Riquewihr (Alsace): +bourg
Kayserberg (Alsace): ++bourg
Haut Konigsburg: +castle
Strasbourg (Alsace): ++cathedral (1439), ++Petite France, Chambre de Commerce
Nancy (Lorraine): -Place Stanislas
Metz (Lorraine): +cathedral
Luneville (Lorraine): -chateau
Hunspach (Lorraine): +bourg
Northwest (Manche):
Mont-Saint-Michel (Normandie): ++Abbaye
Les Andelys (Normandie): +Chateau Gaillar
Rouen (Normandie): Saint-Ouen (1250) (nave, choir, south aisle), Saint-Maclou (1514) (facade, nave)
Caen (Normandie): +Saint-Etienne (1068), Sainte-Trinite (1062), Abbaye-aux-Hommes (1081)
Cerisy-la-Foret (Normandie): eglise (1100)
Carnac (Bretagne): ++megalithic complex (3000 menhirs)
Saint-Malo (Bretagne): bourg
  • Fougeres: Chateau
    Megalithic monuments of Brittany: Gavrinis, Barnenez/Finistere, Locmariaquer "grand menhir brise" (largest menhir), Carnac stones (more than 3,000 menhirs)
    Le Mans: cathedral (13th c)
    Central:
    Paris: click here
    Fontainebleau: Palace
    Poissy: Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye (1929)
    Mantes (48 kms west of Paris): Notre-Dame
    Houdan (63km west of Paris): donjon of 12th c
    Soissons (100 kms northeast of Paris): cathedral (exterior, south transept, nave, choir)
    Rampillon (Ile-de-France): cathedral (14th c)
    Chartres (Isle): medieval houses, +cathedral (1225) (++royal portals, +west windows, exterior of north transept, relief of north transept, north transept window, +reliefs of south transept, nave pier with four colonnettes, four-part vault for each bay of nave and transept, ambulatory)
    Germigny-des-Pres (Loiret): Carolingian oratory of Theodulf (806)
    Amboise: Chateau (1495), first chateau in France
    Versailles (Isle): chateau
    Vaux-Le-Vicomte (Isle): chateau
    Azay-Le-Rideau (Touraine): chateau
    Chambord (Touraine): +Chateau (1547)
    Blois: chateau
  • Saumur: Chateau
  • Fontevraud: Abbaye
  • Tours: Cathedral
    Chenonceaux (Touraine): chateau
    Loches (Touraine): +cite medieval
    Saint-Benoit-Sur-Loire (Touraine): abbaye (1218)
    Ancy-Le-Franc (Bourgogne): chateau
    Sens (Bourgogne): +Saint-Ethienne (12th c) (first cathedral that was Gothic throughout, ambulatory, choir, south aisle, nave)
    Pontigny (Bourgogne): abbey (1180)
    Autun (Bourgogne): +cathedral (1135) (++Gislebertus' tympan, +chapiteaux)
    Beaune (Bourgogne): Hotel-Dieu/ Hospital (1451)
    Cluny (Bourgogne): abbaye
    Dijon (Bourgogne): cathedral, Chartreuse of Champmol (portal, The Well of Moses), Musee de Beaux-Arts (tomb og Philip the Bold)
    Fontenay (Bourgogne): +abbaye (1147)
    Semur-en-Auxois: old town
    Vezelay (Bourgogne): basilique (1120-1200) (+tympanum "Mission of the Apostles", +chapiteaux, choir)
    Bourges (Berry): +cathedral (1195-1250) (nave, east end, aisle, choir, facade, southeast flank), courtyard of the house of Jacques Coeur (1451)
    Issoire: cathedral (12th c) (reliefs on lintels) Paray-le-Monial (Bourgogne): Sacre-Coeur
    East (Alps)
    Ronchamp: +LeCorbusier's Notre-Dame-du-Haut (1955)
    Arc-Et-Senans (Franche-Comte): Salines Royales
    Besancon (Franche-Comte): Citadelle
    Lyons: vieux-Lyons
    Eveux-sur-Arbresle (near Lyons): Convent of La Tourette by Le Corbusier
    Bour-en-Bresse (50 km north of Lyons): +church of Brou (16th c) (nave, choir, tomb of Margaret)
    Chamonix (Savoie): Mont-Blanc
    West (Atlantique)
    Poitiers (Poitou): +Notre-Dame (1130), +baptistery of St Jean (7th c), nearby St-Jouin-des-Marnes (1130), +Futuroscope
    +Saint-Savin sur Gartempe (45 kms from Poitiers): +eglise (1115) (nave, +murals)
    La Rochelle (Poitou): bourg
    Saintes (Poitou): bourg
    Saint-Savin (Poitou): eglise
    Bordeaux (Bordelais): Place de la Bourse, Grand Theatre
    Saint-Emilion (Bordelais): bourg
    Angers: Chateau d'Angers
    South-west (Pyrenees)
    Eyzies-de-Tayac (Agenais): grottes
    Cahors (Agenais): ponte Valentre`
    Sarlat (Aginais): +bourg
    Rocamadour: bourg
    Moissac (Agenais): +Saint-Pierre (1120, porch, +reliefs of south portal, +sculptures of cloister, +cloister capitals)
    Toulouse (Pyrenees): vieux quartier, ++St Sermin (1125), Church of the Jacobins (+pillars of the choir, southeast view)
    +Abbey of St-Michel-de-Cuxa
    Abbi (80 km northeast of Toulouse): cathedral (14th c) (nave, southeast view)
    Prades: Abbey of Saint Martin-du-Carnigou (1026)
    South
    Le Puy (Auvergne): bourg, +Chapelle St Michel
    Albi (Rouerge): cathedral
  • Salers: Chateau de Val
    Conques (Aveyron): +abbaye de Sainte-Foy (1120) (++reliquary statue of St Foi, and tympanum sculture above west facade portal)
    La Convertoirade (Aveyron): vieille ville
    Saint-Come d'Olt (Aveyron): vieille ville
    ++Carcassonne (Languedoc): ramparts, bourg, Saint-Nazaire (1321) (nave, choir)
    Montpellier (Languedoc): vieille ville, Hadid's Herault Culture Sport
  • Hauterives: +Ferdinand Cheval' "Palais Ideal"
    Gellone: Monastery of Saint-Guillaume-le-Desert (12th c)
    Gard (Ardeche): pont
    Nimes (Ardeche): Maison Carree, Jardin de la Fontaine
    Aix-En-Provence (Provence): cathedral
    Tarascon (provence): chateau
    Senanque (provence): +abbaye (12th c)
    Arles (Provence): bourg, Saint-Trophime (1140, reliefs of cloister)
    Orange (Provence): +Roman theater (50 AD), + Roman monumental arch with decoration of Celtic armour
    Avignon (Provence): ++Palais des Papes
    Les Baux (Provence): ++bourg
    Le Thoronet (Provence): ++abbaye (12th c)
    Saint-Gilles-du-Gard (Provence): eglise (facade of 1130)
    Verdon (Provence): +grand canyon
    Hauterives: +Ferdinand Cheval's "Le Palais Ideal"
    Riviera (Cote d'Azur): +corniches
    La Turbie: Roman monument
    St-Paul-de-Vence: medieval fortified village
    Villeneuve-Loubet: +Pyramidal buildings of Marina Baie des Anges by Andre Minangoy (1960)
    Marseilles: Hadid's CMA CGM Head Office, Palais Longchamps (1869), LeCorbusier's Unite d'Habitation (roof terrace)
    Millau Viaduct (2004)
    		• Links
    Notes

    Things that annoyed me in France (1999):

  • In most towns you cannot make a phone call unless you purchase a phone card. The cheapest phone card is 48 francs (1999). If you just need to make one short call, you have to pay 48 francs. Period. If you don't have a phone card and it's sunday (when stores are closed), you can't make a phone call, period (try the tourist office if it's open).
  • It is not enough to buy a train ticket: you also have to "validate" it before you board the train by inserting it in a small red machine that a foreigner may not notice but is almost everywhere. If you don't know this, you may be fined on the train. The same applies to several of the "modern" urban systems (trams, buses). Of course, the instructions are written only in French. If the "conducteur" catches you with a non-validated ticket, don't speak French: good chances they will forgive you. (The same idiotic system has been adopted in Italy and in some German cities).
  • Most museums will not hold your luggage. They are afraid of bombs. It is intersting that they do hold small bags and purses and so forth, but not suitcases or backpacks. (The French government seems to think that terrorists only use very big bombs.) If you enter a museum with a backpack or suitcase, you will be turned out and you will have to take the metro to the nearest train station.
  • Unless you find a good ethnic restaurant or the ubiquitous Italian ristorante-pizzeria, you are stuck with French cuisine, which is overrated at best.
  • French restaurants have a well-deserved reputation for the worst service in the world (you will wait forever for a waiter to show up, bring you the food, bring you the bill, etc).
  • Smoking in your face is a national passtime, so always prefer tables outside. (This is rapidly improving and now most restaurants have a non-smoking section). Unfortunately, the government is not cooperating. On most trains, the non-smoking cars are the first ones to get sold out. People are virtually forced to travel in smoking sections, unless they can plan their travel way ahead.
  • Public transportation outside of Paris is poor, especially on weekends (avoid traveling on sundays). The French tour their country by car.
  • Watch for dogshit on sidewalks in main cities
  • (2001) Amazing progress has been achieved in keeping stores and offices open. "Ferme`" used to be the most common word in French. Now long hours are common, a few stores are open on sundays and late evening. Certainly a lot better than Germany or Italy.
  • Language is still a problem, compared with the rest of the world. Most French speak only one language. I was at a station (a place where many tourists go) and asked (in my broken French) one of the tellers whether she spoke English, German, Spanish or Italian. She asked me (in French) why I didn't learn French before coming to France. I told her (in French) that I was traveling through Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Poland: was I supposed to learn all of those languages? She mumbled something (still in French), didn't seem to be grateful that I was making my best effort to speak her language, and didn't make the slightest effort to make it easier for me to understand her French. Alas, this is not the exception, but often the rule. Even in border areas like Strasbourg or Nice you will not find many people who speak a second language. While better than USA citizens, the French are still a long way from accepting that there exist other languages and that French (unlike English, Russian, Spanish or Arabic) is spoken pretty much only in France, therefore it is not the language a traveler would learn first.