In France, Americans land on Normandy beaches again, now on deluxe private Normandy D-Day tours
April 29, 2008
D-day anniversary is still celebrated each year as France welcomes back thousands of Americans to Normandy to remember and learn about WWII
On June 6, 1944, 150,000 American, Canadian and British troops landed in rough seas along a 60-mile string of sandy beaches on the French coast at Normandy. The liberation of France and Western Europe was under way. It will soon be 64 years since U.S. troops stormed the beaches at Omaha and Utah in Normandy and fought in places like Saint-Mere Eglise and St. Marie du Mont to liberate northern France. And while some complain of strained relations between the US and France, in Normandy, the French welcome Americans on their soil now just as they did June 6, 1944. US veterans with their grandchildren, military history buffs and fans of WWII movies all flock year-round to this meaningful and beautiful location so pivotal to the fortunes of both the US and France. With good planning, Normandy can be reached as a day trip from Paris, making it a popular destination for Americans wishing to tour the Normandy beaches. But many tourists find it complicated to rent cars in France or navigate their own way through a foreign country, wasting valuable time. At the same time, they don’t want to be part of a cattle-car-style bus tour full of strangers that doesn’t afford any flexibility to explore Normandy at their own pace.
The solution? A private Normandy beaches tour by hired car or van. Visitors can re-experience D-Day with a Normandy beaches tour, complete with their own knowledgable English-speaking guide, all in about 12 hours door to door from their own Paris hotel. Free of the responsibility of driving, they can relax and take in the sights of the Norman countryside along the way, enjoying the company of friends or family instead of poring over a road map.
One company offering a quality and competitively-priced version of this service is Best of France. Their full-day Normandy beaches tour covers all the most important stops and still has you back in Paris in time for dinner. Best of France offers a very reasonable two-day tour as well, with an overnight in Normandy. The first stop on the Best of France Normandy beach tour is the 82nd Airborne museum at Sainte Mère Eglise, followed by a drive along Utah beach and a stop at Pointe du Hoc, where American Colonel James Rudder and his US rangers scaled the cliffs to achieve a heroic and near-impossible mission. The Normandy D-Day tour continues with a drive along Omaha Beach and a visit to the American cemetery, invariably a moment of intense emotion and contemplation for US visitors. Unlike big bus tours, Best Of France tours can be customized for those with special interests. A visit to the Bayeux Tapestry or the Canadian Sector, including Juno, Gold and Sword Beaches or Pegasus Bridge in Benouville can be worked in to the Normandy Beaches tour at the request of guests. As there is plenty to see and do in Normandy, Best of France even offers a Normandy guided tour that doesn’t include D-Day-related sites, focusing instead on other beautiful historic and cultural spots in Honfleur, Deauville and Rouen. At lunch, why not enjoy a glass or two of good red wine, or the strong apple Calvados, the classic “trou normand”? After all, you’re not driving! Each of the Normandy guided tours from Best of France can accommodate from one to 15 people and guests can choose from a range of vehicles to suit their groups. Prices are amazingly reasonable for the value; full-day tours range from 170 euros per person on a shared tour organized by the company to around 1700 euros for groups of up to 15. Overnight 2-day tours are also available and are an even better deal. Already in France but haven’t booked? It’s not too late! Smart travellers can snap up amazing bargains with Best of France’s last-minute deals on private tours to Normandy.
Now Americans of all ages can return to Normandy or experience it for the first time without either stepping behind the wheel of an unfamiliar car or joining a large, impersonal cookie-cutter bus tour. A Normandy beaches tour from Best of France gives the American liberators and their loved ones a well-deserved welcome to the place that forever symbolizes the relationship between the US and France.
Best of France is a tour company specializing in private full and half day tours in Paris and France for individuals and small groups.
Services
- Normandy Beaches D-Day Tours
- Private tours of Paris and Versailles
- Fascinating day trips from Paris
- Visit Champagne and Burgundy
7 passage Foubert
75013 Paris
Tel : 01 45 89 51 82
Fax : 09 55 79 23 45
Web : http://www.best-of-france.net
Contact: info@best-of-france.net
American GPS gets more competition as Europe launches 2nd navigation test satellite
April 28, 2008
EU’s Galileo project moves forward with second navigation satellite; 30 global positioning satellites planned by 2013 to combat US GPS dominance in Europe
Around two and a half years after the European Union launched its first test satellite in the field of global navigation, a second experimental satellite for the EU’s Galileo project was launched early Sunday. The European project, which has suffered delays since its inception in 2005, is meant to compete with the US’s Global Positioning System (GPS), which is widely used in satellite navigation devices in both motor vehicles and boats, not only in the US but all over the world. Visitors to France would have seen US-built GPS systems in Paris taxicabs as early as 2002. The European Parliament finally gave approval on Wednesday to the sweeping EU Galileo project, in the hopes it will combat US dominance in the field.
The new European satellite, a 500-kilogram cube builts by the private companies Astrium and Thales Alenia Space, is to take over from the first test satellite Giove-A, launched in December 2005. Astrium and Thales Alenia Space were originally part of a provate consortium that had planned to finance the project, but the consortium pulled out, leaving the EU to pay for Galileo and the two companies to produce it.
The Soyuz rocket bearing the Giove-B satellite lifted off as planned on Saturday night at 10:16 PM GMT local time from Baïkonour, in Kazakhstan. Four hours later, at 2:16 a.m the Giove-B satellite was successfully placed in orbit, specified the European Space Agency and Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of Starstem, the Russo-European company in charge of the launch. “The satellite separated” from the launcher, making the launch a success, Le Gall said. The satellite then “reached its nominal orbit and the orbit’s parameters were excellent,” the navigation department chief of the ESA Didier Faivre said.
The Giove-B satellite has two solar panels, each about 14 feet long, that will contirubte power to the satellite. Giove-B correctly deployed its solar panels, Faivre said.
The EU navigational satellite also has an atomic clock which loses less than a nanosecond a day. The clock is the most precise on Earth but never before sent into space. Such precision is vital for the global positioning technology, based on calculating time elapsed between the emission and signal reception.
The EU Galileo network when completed will comprise on the whole 30 navigational satellites, covering a grid of the Earth’s total surface, in permanent orbit at an altitude of 12,400 miles from Earth. The entire project, estimated at 2.2 billion euros (and up to 3.4 billion by some estimates), is being entirely financed by the European Union after the withdrawal of a private consortium. The project has six segments — satellites, launchers, computer programmes, ground stations, control stations and system operation.
The first four of the 30 non-experimental Galileo satellites are to go into space in the first quarter of 2010, using the Russian-developed Soyuz rocket, as did Saturday’s launch.
Europe’s Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot, in an interview in France with French Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, called Galileo “a tool of sovereignty for Europe.” He said that with global positioning becoming more and more prominent, Europe should not rely for its global positioning needs on one single system like GPS, especially since it is an American one. The launch of Giove-B would allow Europe access to a frequency reserved exclusively for Galileo with the International Telecommunications Union (UIT).
French swimmers break records at Swimming Championship in France
April 25, 2008
French swimmers Malia Metella and Frédérick Bousquet set new records, while Olympic champ Laure Manaudou of France falters.
In Dunkirk, France, French swimmers secured their places for the upcoming Beijing Olympics as they beat swimming records in the next-to-last day of the French swimming championships. Malia Metella beat her own record time in the 100 meters freestyle by 28 hundredths of a second. Metella set the bar at 53 and 99 hundredths of a second, France’s new record. Another beaten record came in the 100m butterfly with Frédérick Bousquet’s 51 seconds and 83 hundredths. The rest of the day saw the victories for French swimmers Christophe Soulier in the 200 meter medley who swam his race in 2 minutes 2 seconds and 37 hundredths and a win for Frenchman Pierre Roger in the 200 meter backstroke in 1 minute 58 seconds and 42 hundredths. Sophie de Ronchi also won the 200 meter breaststroke in 2 minutes, 28 seconds and 20 hundredths of a second.
However, Olympic and world champion Laure Manaudou had to struggle to earn her Olympic berth in the 400 meters freestyle. Manaudou came in third, marking her first defeat in a major championship since 2004. Her time of 4:06.57 was far outside the world record of 4:02.13 Manadou herself set on Aug.6 2006 and held until last month when she was unseated by Federica Pellegrini of Italy at the European swimming championship. Manadou, upset, also withdrew from the 200 meters freestyle race. Her coach cited psychological issues stemming from Manadou’s tumultuous love life and recent publication on the internet of nude photos of the French swimming star. France has been pinning its hopes on Manadou for at least one gold medal in swimming for France in the upcoming Olympic games.
France too expensive this summer? Smart travelers can beat the Euro and vacation in a villa in Provence.
April 24, 2008
Renting a Coin Secrets villa in Provence or Haute-Savoie this year is the new way savvy tourists to France can travel on a budget while enjoying all the comforts of home.
Talk about the French Paradox. No, not the one that says you can consume all the red wine and rich sauces you want and not get fat. The new French Paradox says that the smartest way to vacation to France on a budget in 2008 could be to rent the villa of your dreams in Provence or the French Alps of Haute-Savoie. At first glance, this idea may seem crazy. With the Euro at an all-time high against the dollar plus the rising cost of airfares, the price for Americans going to France — never a bargain — has become even more painful. But for those for whom not going to France or somewhere in Europe this summer is not an option, a holiday rental in France, such as renting a villa in Provence or Tuscany could be a shrewd, creative — and very enjoyable — strategy.
Most tourists to France these days grumble most about the high cost of eating in restaurants. With the Euro at upwards of $1.60, a mere breakfast in a cafe for a family of four could easily cost $50.00, and the cost of dinner in a fine French restaurant is astronomical. Most tourists have no choice– eating while on vacation means eating out. But in a vacation rental in Provence for example, travellers usually have a fully-equipped kitchen at their disposal, making it possible to prepare some meals at home. In Provence, but also in other parts of France and Italy, this is no hardship; with local markets a popular tourist destination, villa occupants can experience the joys of shopping and cooking with fresh local products, and even non-gourmets can appreciate being able to make their own coffee in the morning to enjoy in their bathrobes by their own pool. The money saved can be significant, allowing tourists to budget for other activities or truly special meals out.
For another thing, villas in France and Italy come in many sizes, some housing up to 20 people. For travelers who can organize their vacations with like-minded friends or family members, sharing paradise in a villa in Provence can add up to big savings, even for accommodations that could be considered luxurious. And for those for whom originality in a vacation is priceless, a villa rental in France or Italy offers a truly one-of-a-kind vacation experience that cookie-cutter hotels cannot. Villas for rent in Provence and Tuscany that were secrets to most tourists only a few years ago are now within reach of anyone with a computer. Once the exclusive domain of high-end travel agents, villas in France and Italy are easy for any traveller to find and book in minutes on the Internet.
One of the best sites around for villa rentals in Provence, Haute-Savoie and Tuscany is Coins Secrets, “Secret Spots” in English. Run with care by Anca and Phillipe, the company matches quality villas for rent in Provence, but also in the French Alps and various areas of Tuscany, with travellers seeking a villa rental. Visitors to the site can search by region, price, size and other criteria to find the perfect villa for their needs and budget. Committed to remaining small and personally connected to their customers, Anca and Phillipe, of Coins Secrets personally inspect each property to assure high standards and none of the unpleasant surprises that can sometimes bedevil travellers renting a private home. And what homes! Charming farmhouses, picturesque stone cottages and grand country homes, many with swimming pools, gorgous gardens and spectacular views, housing from two to up to 20 guests. Going through a site like www.coinsecret.co.uk to rent a villa in Provence, Savoie or Tuscany, tourists to the south of France and Italy can find that traveling smart and in grand style don’t have to be mutually exclusive. And if you fall in love with the area and are ever lucky enough to own one of these amazing villas yourself, Coin Secret will also help you rent it out to other lucky tourists when you are not living there.
Coins Secrets is a service that matches vacation properties for rent by their owners with tourists seeking villas to rent in Provence, Haute Savoie and Tuscany.
Services
- Holiday rentals in France
- Villas for rent in Provence
- Villas for rent in South of France and French Alps
- Villas for rent beyond Provence (Tuscany)
32, rue Mallet Stevens, Bat K
30900 Nîmes
Tel: + 33 4 90 48 00 20
Fax: + 33 4 90 31 71 95
Web : http://www.coinsecret.co.uk
Email : Contact forms
President of France Sarkozy sends message of friendship to China after Olympic torch fiasco
April 23, 2008
The relationship of France and China, overshadowed by Tibet in run-up to Beijing Olympics, is target of damage control by French President and ex-Prime Minister.
Former Prime Minister of France Jean-Pierre Raffarin arrives Thursday in China to meet Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, and Nicolas Sarkozy’s personal envoy, David Levitte, is due to arrive this weekend. President of France Nicolas Sarkozy sent along a biography of French war hero and former president of France Charles de Gaulle as a gift for his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao as a peace offering to ease tensions in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.
De Gaulle’s decision to formally recognise the Communist Peoples’ Republic of China in 1964, despite US opposition, laid the foundation for modern-day relations between the two countries.Raffarin’s trip is a long-scheduled visit, but comes as France tries to repair its damaged relations with China following protests in France during the Olympic torch relay.
Demonstrators in France and around the world have been disrupting the torch’s progress to protest Chinese action in Tibet. France itself is considering boycotting the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Beijing for the same reason.Opinion polls in France show strong sympathy for the Tibetan cause and support for a boycott of the Games’ opening ceremony by Sarkozy, although not of the Games themselves.
On Monday, the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, named the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen of the French capital, further inflaming the government of China, which considers the Dalai Lama a revolutionary trying to divide China.
Protestors in France along the torch route managed to breach security and force the torch to divert its course several times, even harassing Jin Jing, a disabled Chinese athlete in a wheelchair who was one of the torchbearers. She has become a national hero in China for fighting off the French protestors.”It is understandable that the Chinese people feel hurt. I strongly condemn what they did,” said President of France Nicolas Sarkozy.
Those behind “this painful incident” were not representative of the friendship between China and France, he said, inviting Jin to France.France may be protesting against China, but people in China are also voicing their own grievances against France. In Beijing, a dozen cars waving the Chinese flag and bearing the slogan “Tibet is China” drove around in front of the French embassy before police closed off the street.
Across China, Internet chat rooms buzz with angry talk of punishing France and firms thought to support the Dalai Lama. Boycotts of French companies and products from France like wines, which are popular in China, are under hot discussion.
Carrefour, the biggest supermarket and retail chain in France, comparable to Wal-Mart in the US, is a particular target. The French chain, which has 122 stores in China, had been accused of supporting Tibet’s Dalai Lama — something the company has strongly denied. Several thousand Chinese people gathered on Saturday in Paris, London, Berlin and Los Angeles to rally in support of China and against what they see as the biased media coverage of the Olympic torch relay and unrest in Tibet.
In Paris, up to 4,000 pro-Chinese protesters gathered, waving Chinese flags and chanting “Beijing Olympic Games.”France has become the focus of general anti-Western feelings in China as preparations for the Beijing Olympics are overshadowed by the issue of human rights and Tibet following a brutal crackdown on pro-independence protests there in March.
Sarkozy is to make his final decision regarding the participation of France in the Opening Ceremonies this July. Raffarin has said he would attend, but Sarkozy’s appearance is still up in the air.
France mixes business with pleasure in a big way at 2008 Foire de Paris
April 18, 2008
French shoppers and curiosity-seekers head to Paris’ Porte de Versailles April 30 - May 12 for La Foire De Paris, Paris’ biggest international trade show.
Springtime in Paris means so many things: lovers kissing in the park, long walks along the Seine, the chestnut trees in bloom. But since 1904, April in Paris also means it’s time for La Foire De Paris, a vast trade show, market, county fair and spectacle which takes place over two hectic weeks in the exhibition space at Paris’ Porte de Versailles.
It’s hard to classify what you’ll find at La Foire de Paris, since its nearly 50 acres of stalls, tents, stages and stands is an enormous hodgepodge of home furnishings, cooking demonstrations, classes, fashion shows, auto shows…you name it. The Foire de Paris has tried to corral all its offerings this year into three themes: Home & Environment, dedicated to decoration, gardening and pools and do-it-yourself; Well-Being and Leisure, which covers a huge gamut of fashion, cooking, entertainment, travel and other fun activities; and Cultures of the World, which features cultural demonstrations from around the globe, local crafts, food, music and more.
People from all over France come to La Foire de Paris to gawk, to browse but certainly to shop. Since the Foire began in 1904, it’s been a way for the French to sample wares from all over the world and dream about what they would buy if they could. In fact, La Foire de Paris is “leche-vitrine” (French for window-shopping; literally “licking the window”) on a grand scale, and without windows. There are numerous hands-on classes and activities for people of all ages as well as special events, contests and concerts dotted throughout the two weeks. La Foire de Paris is both a shopper’s paradise and a day of family entertainment. The show runs every day non-stop from 10 AM - 7 PM, with a 9:30 AM start on weekends and holidays. A day’s admission costs 12 Euros, 7 Euros for kids up to 14. For more information (in French only) and to purchase tickets in advance, go to Foire de Paris website.
In France this summer, the Solidays music festival fighting AIDS celebrates its 10th year
April 17, 2008
July 4, 5, and 6 at the Hippodrome in Longchamp, Paris will mark the tenth anniversary of Solidays, the French anti-AIDS concert and fund-raising event.
Three days of music, celebration and poignancy will descend upon Paris July 4-6 2008 when the anti-AIDS concert festival hits Paris for the 10th year. The festival will be held at the Hippodrome at Paris’ famed Longchamp racetrack. The name Solidays, an amalgam of “Solidarite” and “Holidays” is meant to convey a sense of standing with AIDS victims while celebrating life and having fun.
Music of various styles from rap to reggae will be represented. Starting at midnight, electronic music shows are planned complete with fireworks that will light up the Paris sky.
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Solidays will offer a three-day pass for 30 euros to the first 15,000 to sign up starting April 18. This is a bargain for three days of music, especially since a one day pass is still 25 Euros.
Among the 200 performers who have already committed to appear at Solidays are: Yael Naim, The Gossip, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Patrice, Césaria Evora, Thomas Dutronc, Asa, Moriarty, Foals, Asian Dub Foundation, Girls in Hawaii, The Hoosiers, The ubways, Alpha Blondy, IAM, Aaron, Toots and the Maytals, Bumcello, Nneka, Kery James, les Têtes Raides, Deportivo, Rhesus, Yelle, Rose, Psy 4 de la Rime, Vitalic, Laurent Garnier, Grand Corps Malade, Orchestre National de Barbès, Beat Assailant, Hocus Pocus, Les Cowboys Fringants and Dub Pistols.
The 2007 Solidays festival in France last year brought in nearly 115,000 spectators and raised more than 900,000 Euros for AIDS prevention and research.
In France, the poorest people have the pooest health and access to health care, new French study shows.
April 16, 2008
High health care costs in France compel many low-income households to stop seeking medical treatment altogether.
More than one person in seven in France avoids seeing a doctor for purely financial reasons, according to a French study released Tuesday by the Institute of Research and Documentation in Economy of Health (Irdes). The French study surveyed almost 20,000 people, and showed that households in France with the lowest incomes abandon seeking medical treatment because of health-care costs. 14% of insured people neglected to seek medical care for economic reasons over the last twelve months, and 22% report having stopped seeing the doctor entirely. In French households with monthly incomes of less than 800 euros, the ratio climbs to 24%, while it is only 7.4% in French households with incomes over 1,867 euros per month.
The poorest people in France suffer from the worst health and, not surprisingly, also have the worst health insurance coverage. The frequent absence of complimentary health insurance, called a mutuel, is a determining factor. In France, Social Security pays for health care, but often does not cover the entire cost. A mutuel is an extra health insurance policy paid for by the insuree to pick up costs not covered by French Social Security, and coverage can be very expensive,especially for the unemployed.
7% of all insured people in France don’t have a mutuel, but fully a third of lower-income people in France are without one.
The most frequently abandoned health care treatments by poor people in France are dental care (63 % ), eyeglasses (25%) and consultations with specialists (16%), which are both the most expensive and most meagerly reimbursed by French Social Security. Low-income people in France must dedicate 10% of their income to health care, while the richest only allocate 3%.
The French study also reveals that the people most at risk in France are young people between 20 and 29 years of age and the elderly; and women in France, especially lower-income women, are considered to be in worse health overall than men.
France’s electric company EDF may buy out British Energy
April 15, 2008
French electric company Electricite de France (EDF) enters international bidding war for nuclear power company British Energy.
France’s EDF, already the world’s biggest nuclear power generator with 58 reactors, is looking to broaden its reach with a buyout of the UK’s British Energy. EDF operates 19 nuclear sites in France where it provides more than 80% of the energy in France.
EDF will reportedly offer more than 700 British pence per share for the nuclear power company, which would make the deal worth upwards of $18 billion. Earlier this week, it was reported that Germany’s RWE had offered just under 700p a share while Britain’s Centrica had proposed an all-share deal, though that is considered unlikely as the company has no nuclear experience. Iberdrola of Spain is also in the running. British Energy shares have risen almost 40% since it emerged in February that the company’s board was considering a break-up or sale.
British Energy is 35%-owned by the British government.
The potential bidders are hoping to take advantage of the government’s renewed enthusiasm for nuclear power. A deadline for final bids is coming in the next few weeks.
The greatest concern surrounding EDF, the world’s largest nuclear power company, is that EDF is more than 80% owned by the French state. Therefore, a takeover of British Energy by France’s EDF could be highly sensitive politically, as it would leave 20 per cent of the UK’s power generation in the hands of the French government. There is also concern that if the company is taken over by EDF of France or any other single entity, that process will give one company a nuclear monopoly. At least a dozen companies from multiple countries have been engaged with British Energy over the past year for the building of reactors on some of its sites. A takeover by EDF would mean France gets the terrain all to itself.
No more advertising on state-owned France TV starting in 2011
April 14, 2008
State-run France television networks will stop running commercials by the year 2011, phase-out begins next year
The changes will begin in France starting in 2009. In the French plan, all advertising on the French public stations will phased out by 2011, to coincide with the final switch from analog to digital technology on TV in France. Commercial,provately owned TV stations in France would still run advertising; in fact they would now have a semi-monopoly as more advertising revenue would go to them when government-owned stations France would no longer accept commercials. However, they would pay part of this revenue back in a tax that would help offset the advertising money lost to France-run stations, said President of France Nicolas Sarkozy. Advertising revenue now brings in around 800 million Euros per year for France’s public TV channels, representing 40% of their total budget. It is unclear how much of this would be offset by taxes on privately-held TV in France, French government subsidies, or new taxes on individuals.
Shares of the French commercial broadcasters TF1 and M6, which compete with the government-owned France Télévisions for advertising, spiked on Jan. 8 after Sarkozy first introduced his proposals
In a speech February at the inception of the French commission headed by French National Assembly leader Jean-François Copé to research the recommendations being implemented today, Sarkozy envisioned a French public liberated from what he called the “tyranny” of advertising on French TV. But the President of France said at the time that there were no plans to privatize any channels as part of a planned overhaul of public television, and so far has kept true to his word.
The plan would be an “innovation without precedent” for the audiovisual industry, resulting in “a cultural revolution in the public-television service,” Sarkozy said. He added that the move would “support French culture.” Sarkozy did add that the French government might also introduce a tax on Internet access and mobile communications to finance ad-free state TV in France, though the French president called the possible tax “infinitesimal.” People in France who own a television already pay a yearly tax for the privilege.