'Unexpected France' from Travel and Leisure

"Unexpected France" includes chapters on "Biking Through Versailles," "Glories of the Loire," and a section on Aveyron, which the book describes as a "sparsely populated, often-overlooked" part of Southern France with beautiful landscapes, medieval villages and good food and lodging. Highlights of the area include the centuries-old pilgrims' trail through France to the Pyrenees mountain passes crossing over into northwestern Spain, where medieval Christians hoped to find their salvation at the shrine of St. James in Santiago (Spanish for St. James) de Compostela.

Taking the whole family to the south of France

On the 90-minute car journey west towards Montpellier, along the extensive and well-maintained motorway network, the wind drops and the landscape reveals its parched beauty. The air conditioning is turned up a notch or two: this may be France during a generally ropey summer but the climate here remains defiantly Mediterranean.

There is another pleasant surprise at the toll booth. The attendant is friendly and attentive, much more so than I imagine his British counterpart would be were toll booths a widespread fixture of UK motoring.

French Burgundy river cruise

This is a delightful cruise along the bucolic River Saône and it is the perfect way to experience historic riverside towns, tranquil rural scenery, great company and to indulge in exceptional Burgundy wines.

The cruise route is from St Jean de Losne (near Dijon) to Lyon or the reverse, passing through idyllic countryside and mooring in delightful riverside towns steeped in history. The itinerary is a wine lovers dream as we pass along all of the major wine growing areas of Cote de Nuits, Cote de Beaune, Chalonnais, Maconnais and Beaujolais.

There are many places of interest along the route including Dijon, Beaune and Lyon. Lyon is France’s second city and its hands-down gourmet capital.

France: Air traffice controllers continue strike

The strikes led to 50% of flight from Orly airport being cancelled with many others suffering delays of up to five hours. Marseille, Nice, Lyon and Toulouse airports were forced to cancel flights to Orly knowing that they would not be able to land. The Airport at Roissy was largely unaffected.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) strike observance on Wednesday was at roughly the same level as the previous day with 38% at Athis-Mons, 45% at Orly and 5% at Roissy joining the strikes. It is being estimated that 2000 passengers are being left stranded a day at a cost of one million euros.

Faster trains and smoke-free dining in France

Like all of Europe, France has some changes in store for visitors in 2008 -- starting at the top. France's newly elected president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and recently appointed prime minister, Francois Fillon, appear to be America-friendly, so we can expect no more cries for Freedom Fries from people who don't get out much.

France unveils its latest high speed train

At that pace, the Eurostar from London to Paris would take 1h 42mins instead of the 2h 15mins the new high-speed service takes.

A spokesman for London and Continental Railways, which made the HighSpeed 1 line between London St Pancras and the British end of the Channel tunnel, said the faster trains were an exciting prospect for European rail travel - particularly after EU railways are liberalised in 2010.

All Marine grapplers take on world's finest in France

The tournament featured what is called pull-through bracketing; a single elimination format that allows for wrestlers whose first loss comes to an eventual finalist to compete for third place against the others in his bracket who lost to that same finalist.