France news and events
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Jun 14, 2013
No longer a corker
Good quality, AOC wine, is soon to be available in cans in France; ideal for taking on a picnic, as the can itself is recyclable. AOC Corbières is already available, along with other grape varieties in bag-in-a-box, and at very low prices. Will the new wine-in-a-can be a success? It is in Germany, where sales have exceeded 60 million cans a year.
Mar 15, 2013
Parking revolution in Nice
Smartphone users in Nice are now able to locate empty parking spaces and pay for their tickets instantly. The Nice City Passport app has been championed by the group SEMIACS, which hopes the software will ease urban traffic and reduce carbon emissions.
Wifi -powered GPS on smartphones permits users to locate the nearest parking spots.
The Nice City Passport App spans the Notre Dame district (avenue Jean Médécin, boulevards Débouchage, Cimiez and Raimbaldi) and its 4,000 spots and 68 parking metres. Users need only switch on their GPS, which will geolocalise their position and flag up the nearest available parking spots using road sensors.
If there are no roadside spaces, the system will direct you to the nearest car park.
Not only will drivers be able to locate parking spots, but they will be able to pay for them remotely thanks to new high-tech parking metres. You can pay for your ticket with money, a credit card or via smartphone.
By the second half of 2014, the software should encompass the entire city of Nice, totalling 10,000 parking spaces and 800 parking metres at a cost of 13 million euros.
Mar 08, 2013
France drops breath test fines
France has finally dropped plans to fine motorists who do not have a breath test kit in their vehicles – but has left in place the law obliging them to carry the kits.
Under the law introduced by the Sarkozy government last year, drivers and motorcyclists faced an €11 fine for not carrying a breath test kit. The law, due to come into force on 1 July, 2012, was delayed until November due to the shortage of kits. This November date was then further extended to 1 March.
However, new Interior Minister Manuel Valls announced that he was sceptical of the value of the kits and asked the Conseil National de la Sécurité Routière to have another look at the plan.
The CNSR said on February 13 that it recommended the carrying of a breath test in vehicles but in a decree published on Friday, 1 March, in the Journal Officiel the government annulled the sanction of the €11 fine.
Feb 23, 2013
Michelin stars galore for the Côte d'Azur
Previously unrivalled on the Côte d'Azur, Monegasque-born Alain Ducasse now faces competition from a young chef in Saint Tropez. Arnaud Donckele of La Vague d'Or has been awarded with his third Michelin star, earning him a place among the elite group of 27 French chefs who claimed the title this year.
Aged just 35, Arnaud Donckele has emerged as one of the two finest chefs on the Riviera, alongside the head chef of the Louis XV restaurant in the Hôtel de Paris, Alain Ducasse. Unveiled on Monday 18th February, the Michelin Guide 2013 is not only a huge achievement for the Rouen-born chef, but also for the Côte d'Azur, which now boasts a total of two top quality establishments.
La Vague d'Or
Plages des Sablette, Promenade Charcot, 83500 La Seyne-sur-mer
Tel: 04 94 94 80 00; www.lavaguedor.fr
Feb 22, 2013
Cheap rail travel: Paris to Marseille
MARSEILLE is just €10 from Paris with the launch of SNCF’s new high-speed, low-cost Ouigo TGV services.
The new service travels from the Paris suburb of Marne-la-Vallée to Marseille and Montpellier via Lyon-Saint-Exupéry Airport in a service that undercuts air costs.
But SNCF exploded pre-launch expectations of tickets at €25 by revealing it would sell 400,000 tickets at just €10 with another one million for sale at €25. Fares would range up to €85, but it is targeting families with under-12s costing just €5.
From April 1 the low-cost service makes travel to Marseille much cheaper than car, plane ... or train as it is one seventh the cost of a normal TGV.
Add in the cost of the €7-€8 fare of the minimum 45-minute journey from Paris to Marne-la-Vallée and the €10 Ouigo compares to a TGV Loisir journey costing €72, Ryanair €40 and car-share €50.
Feb 16, 2013
GR2013
A new long-distance walking trail opens in Provence in March, mapped by a group of local artists, writers and architects. The Grande Randonnée GR2013 is designed to help celebrate Marseille’s period as European Capital of Culture. Described as the ‘first metropolitan and artistic hiking trail’, the GR2013 is designed to highlight the contrast between city and country, land and sea, past, present and future. As well as taking walkers through the stunning Provençal countryside and its many highlights, it will pass through lesser-known places and some of the region’s striking urban and commercial landmarks. The 224-mile trail, shaped as a figure of eight, should take around 15 days in total to walk.
Feb 16, 2013
Radar warning signs and breathalysers back on agenda
ROAD safety authorities have urged the government to press ahead with plans to make breathalysers compulsory in vehicles - but they say a fine is not necessary.The Conseil National de la Sécurité Routière also recommended bringing back warning signs announcing the presence of speed cameras. They were dug up last year, but a number remain in place, alongside new "radars pédagogiques" which display a vehicle's speed but do not issue fines.
Jan 11, 2013
Air France make low-cost offer
AIR France has launched a new series of low-cost tickets - called "Mini" - which aim to increase its competitiveness in the face of rivals such as Ryanair and EasyJet.
Tickets starting at €49 one way will be sold for 58 destinations in France, Europe and north Africa - starting on February 6.
They are available setting off from Paris Orly airport, Marseille, Nice or Toulouse.
Air France said the same level of service would be offered to passengers - including free newspapers - but checked baggage would cost extra.
Dec 29, 2012
Zero alcohol limit for young drivers
Young drivers in France could break the law if they are found with any alcohol in their blood, in a new zero-tolerance approach to drink-driving being considered by road safety authorities.
If approved, it means the current 0.5 gram/litre limit could be reduced to 0 for drivers aged 18-24.
Dec 14, 2012
A reet good do!
How good is this, then? Leeds in Yorkshire, England is the starting point for the 2014 Tour de France, it has just been announced.
Dec 07, 2012
Snow and Ice alerts
Météo-France has placed 37 departments in the north-east of France on orange alert for dangerous snow and black ice today. People there should be “very careful”, it says.
Nov 16, 2012
Beaujolais Nouveau is here
The day, the third Thursday of November, officially starts at midnight in Beaujeu, near Lyon, home of the vintage.
It has been a bad year for wine makers with heavy rains, frost and hail leading to a reduced harvest and pushing many vineyards to the brink of bankruptcy.
In 2011, half of the 35 million bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau were exported. The leading drinkers are the Japanese who bought eight million, followed by the Americans with 2.4 millions and the Germans with 1.3 million.
Nov 07, 2012
Christmas comes early for travellers in France
Anyone thinking of travelling to France for a spot of Christmas shopping or an indulgent pre-Christmas break can save up to 65% on train tickets from Paris to a host of French destinations.
Standard class fares start at just £13.50 one way from Paris to Reims, £33 one way from Paris to Avignon, Montpellier, Bordeaux and Marseille and from £38.50 from Paris to Nice, Cannes and Antibes.
Other destinations featured in the offer include Toulouse, Strasbourg, Perpignan, Grenoble and Luxembourg, with departures also available from Lille and Brussels to selected destinations.
The offer is available for booking between Tuesday 13 November and Tuesday 27 November ’12 for travel dates between Tuesday 16 November and Tuesday 18 December ‘12 inclusive.
Included in the offer are first and standard class tickets on day time services and reclining seats, 4 and 6-berth couchettes on overnight services.
Tickets can be booked online at www.raileurope.co.uk, on 0844 848 4070, or at the Rail Europe Travel Centre at 193 Piccadilly, London W1J 9EU.
Continue reading "Christmas comes early for travellers in France"
Oct 30, 2012
P&O; cracker
P&O; Ferries has uncorked a cracking deal to kick-start cross Channel shopping trips in the run up to Christmas.
Book a Dover – Calais day trip for a car and passengers, with fares from just £25 return, and collect six free bottles of red, white or rose JP Chenet wine on board.
The offer applies to bookings for travel from 7 November until 14 December. For more information or to book go to www.poferries.com or call 08716 646464.
Oct 24, 2012
Tour de France 2013
The route for the Tour de France for 2013 has now been revealed, and starts on the island of Corsica, with three stages. Great route that will favour the mountain specialists rather than time trialists and sprinters.
Oct 11, 2012
Animated film
The Royal Abbey of Fontevraud welcomes in residence creators from within the fields of animation who wish to produce a written work (scenario, graphic study, storyboard) based upon a personnel project, a short, or a feature film.
Whatever the nationality of the creator, he or she will benefit from a grant for the duration of their residence, which must be a minimum of one month.
Submission deadline: November 15th 2011
Sep 15, 2012
Concentration camp memorial opened
The Prime Minister of France, Jean-Marc Ayrault, has inaugurated the 'Camp des Milles' memorial site near Aix en Provence, 70 years to the day after the last prisoner was transported from the camp to Auschwitz.
Aug 31, 2012
Dinosaurs in Provence
After a decade of secrecy, palaeontologists can reveal that they have unearthed the remains of a new species of dinosaur in the south of France. The 75-million-year old fossil is only missing one thing … its head.
Aug 31, 2012
Fuel prices cut
PETROL prices have been dropped across the country for the next three months as the government announced immediate reductions of up to six centimes - with half the cost coming from the state and half from the oil firms.
Aug 25, 2012
Beware fake police
POLICE and gendarmes have stepped up controls and surveillance on autoroutes after an increase in reports of fake police robbing travellers.
Last week a couple driving on the A31 near Longvic (Côte-d'Or) were pulled over by a dark Peugeot 206 with a blue flashing light on the roof at 2.00 in the morning. The two fake police - both of African origin with one wearing what looked like a police jacket - searched the driver and took €3,200 from his wife's handbag.
Aug 17, 2012
Mosquito alert
DANGEROUS tiger mosquitos have been found in Lot-et-Garonne and the department is raising its alert level to show that the insect is on the increase.
The department is at present at level 0.b, which means eggs have been seen on observation traps. It is shortly to rise to 1, meaning tiger mosquitos are present and active, but there have been no cases yet of people suffering dengue fever or chikungunya, tropical diseases associated with the pest.
Aug 17, 2012
HEAT WAVE IN FRANCE
A BLAST of hot Saharan air has sparked a heatwave alert in the south-west of France with weather forecasters warning of temperatures reaching up to 39C today and nudging 30C across much of the country.
Prefects in six departments have set Level 2 heatwave alerts to help protect old people and children and these came into force for Tarn-et-Garonne and Lot-et-Garonne yesterday afternoon and this morning for Gers, Haute-Garonne, Lot and Tarn.
Aug 01, 2012
The Wiggo Factor
The French are gearing up for an invasion of Brits on bikes this summer following booming interest in cycling after Bradley Wiggins’ historic Le Tour victory.
In the Pas-de-Calais, the region of France nearest to the UK, local tourist boards have joined forces to highlight their favourite cycle routes on the website www.uk.pas-de-calais.com.
The 32 suggested routes are aimed at mere mortals rather than Tour de France supermen. They’re a manageable 20 to 30 miles in length and come with notes for points of interest along the way that are a perfect excuse to pause and take in the sights, and take a breather.
The areas covered include routes in the tranquil Seven Valleys countryside to the south of Boulogne, coastal rides along the Cote d’Opale between Calais and Berck-sur-Mer, routes exploring the Artois area that takes in historic Arras, and the region around St Omer.
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