From Burgundy to Brownies

Planning a trip to France? If you want an insider's view of Burgundy, my favorite French wine region, you'll want to give a listen to Burgundy and the French Countryside, a travel podcast from the Amateur Traveler. There are lots of tips to save you money and to make sure you get the true Burgundian experience (for example: go on Sunday, when most national museums are free). Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the link, it's sorta hidden down there.

Like music? Want a small tour of some of Europe's most interesting venues? How about a tour to Ponte de Lima, where you can attend the Festival de Ópera & Música Clássica de Ponte de Lima? Or, if you favor the haunting reverberations found in many European monasteries, you might consider attending the Festival de Valloires, "an international chamber music festival set in the atmospheric 18th century Cistercian Abbaye de Valloires in Picardy and its magnificent gardens." The above from Sharonarts.

Strikes spread in France

PARIS — Travel woes piled up in France today with air traffic delays adding to a week of rail strikes as many of the nation's 5 million civil servants held a daylong walkout in the biggest test of President Nicolas Sarkozy's appetite for reform.

Schools and the postal service were among victims of the day of action by civil servants pressing for pay hikes and assurances of job security. More than 300,000 - or nearly 40 percent - of France's teachers stayed off the job, the Education Ministry said, forcing some schools to close. Flights also were delayed and newspapers not printed.

More travel chaos on day two of French strike

For the second day running, getting into work has been an ordeal for French commuters, as transport unions pursue a strike. Nationwide, slightly more trains were running than yesterday but there is still major disruption. Paris metro, bus and tram services have once again been hit.

A government plan to cut back on generous public sector pensions has triggered the open-ended stoppage. "It just gets tiring because at the end of the day, it is only fair that everyone has the same working conditions," said one frustrated passenger at Saint-Lazare railway station in Paris.

Bok fans pay fortunes in descent on Paris

The fervour around South Africa’s semifinal Rugby World Cup clash with Argentina today has led to scores of Springbok fans digging deep into their pockets to be in Paris for the game.

While some had to settle for the bare basics of a ticket, flight and accommodation, the big spenders have splashed out on five-star packages that cost as much as to R200000.

Travel agencies specialising in tailor-made packages, have rolled out the red carpet and offered their clients five-star hotel suites, luxury cruises on the French Riviera, chartered private jets and the best seats at the 80000-seat Stade de France in Paris.

France's Accor plans to boost hotel network to 5,000

PARIS: Accor said Tuesday it plans to expand its network of worldwide hotels by 2010, giving the French group a base of 5,000 hotels.

The current network of around 4,000 hotels will be shaken up with divestments, rebrandings and refurbishing, the company said.

"We plan on increasing our market share in the European midscale segment," helped by recently launched Adagio City Aparthotels, a joint venture with Groupe Pierre & Vacances, Accor Chief Executive Gilles Pelisson told journalists after presenting Accor's business plan to analysts over a two-day meeting in Roissy, near Paris.

Chinese tourists flock to Paris under travel pact

PARIS -- France is reaping a fat reward by tapping into the potentially massive Chinese tourism market under a special access provision extended to the European Union but not Canada.

Every day, thousands of Chinese tourists, who typically stay in two-star hotels in Paris's suburbs, come by the busloads into the heart of the world's most popular tourist destination to shop and take pictures of each other in front of landmarks like the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.