France

Country and people
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Form of government: semi-presidential republic (Republique francaise)
Language: French Spanish
President: Nicolas Sarkozy
Head of Government: Prime Minister Francois Fillon
Size: 672.352 sqkm
Capital: Paris
Population: 64.105.230 (Jan 2007)
Currency: Euro
National holiday: July 14th, storming the Bastille
Hymn: La Marsellaise, motto Libert , Egalit , Fraternit (freedom, equality, brotherhood)
Time zone: UTC 1
Internet:. fr
Telephone code: 33

The country
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France is divided into the ´motherland´ (in Europe) and the overseas departments .
The motherland has an area of ​​543. 965 square kilometers and borders the North Sea, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
Country borders are with Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Spain.
There are many plains, hills in the north and west, mountains in the south and east.
In the southeast the Alps, in the southwest the Pyrenees.
The highest mountain in France is Montblanc at 4,808 m.
The capital Paris is the focal point for all important processes in the country, more than 12 million people live there in the metropolitan area der Stadt (Ile de France)
Cities with more than a million inhabitants in the greater areas are Marseille, Lyon and Lille.

Road traffic
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France´s highways connect the dominant area around Paris with the rest of the country. Most of the routes are operated by private providers and are therefore subject to tolls.
There are toll-free sections in the catchment area of ​​some large cities, as well as the new A75.
The RN (Route National) are still very busy, comparable to our highways or country roads.

Shopping facilities
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There are many very large supermarket centers such as Auchan , where up to 100 shops can be gathered under one roof.
Big supermarkets are Carrefour, Champion, Leclerc etc. These markets are open continuously.
The petrol stations in these supermarkets are a specialty, which are considerably cheaper than the petrol stations in the country; there are differences of up to 10 ct per liter.
Attention for motorhome drivers whose vehicle is more than 3m high: the overhangs and roofing of these petrol stations are often around 3.20m
The exits at the ticket booth are also mostly in cases very tight. Nevertheless, it is worth driving, precisely because of the large price difference.
If you want to buy a French gas bottle, you can do so here at the supermarket petrol stations and also swap it here later.
You get a receipt when you buy the bottle, which you should keep well, because only with it is it possible to return the bottle (if desired) when leaving the country with reimbursement of the purchase price of the empty bottle.

Besides the supermarkets there is of course an incredible variety of small markets, small shops and the local markets with local specialties, the list of which is beyond the scope here. . . .



~womo66~fritz14~fritz~, 2007-11-28