France: Useful Links

French Search Engines

A search engine is the best thing to find information on the Internet. When you type in a keyword or keywords, the search engine explores a ready-made database of links. It also offers a wealth of practical information, news, etc…

http://www.yahoo.fr/
The French version of the famous search engine.

Other popular French search engines are:
http://www.lokace.com/
http://www.nomade.fr
http://www.a2i.fr/aef/index.php
La Toile du Québec: A search engine for Québécois sites.

French Language

http://french.about.com/education/french/
A compendious resource of French language and culture. Large collection of links to sites, sorted by as many categories as you could think of.

http://www.culture.fr./culture/dglf/garde.htm
Délagation Générale à la Langue Française
A site on the French language, minority languages, news and laws relating to French language. Useful French-English glossary of internet terms. Also to be found: a forum for translators (including dictionaries) and an area for linguistic games.

On-line Dictionaries

http://fmc.utm.edu/~rpeckham/DICO.HTM
Leximagne: 170 French dictionaries and glossaries.

Media

http://www.afp.com/
L’Agence France Presse.

General

http://www.nouvelobs.com/
Le Nouvel Observateur.

http://www.lemonde.fr/
Le Monde.

http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/
Le Monde Diplomatique.

http://www.liberation.fr/
Libération.

http://www.courrierint.com/
Le Courrier International. Links to archives.

http://www.humanite.presse.fr/
l’Humanité.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/
Le Figaro.

http://www.lesoir.com/
Le Soir, Belgian daily paper.

http://www.electriccafe.org/Canard/
La Crème de Canard: non-official selection of articles from “Le Canard Enchaîné”.

Francophone Countries

http://www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/clicnet/presse.ecrite.html
Hundreds of periodicals from African, Belgian, Canadian, Vietnamese and Swiss press.

Miscellaneous

http://www.francealacarte.org.uk/
France à la carte: the site of the French embassy in the UK: links to arts and culture, Science and technology, French-speaking world, Education, Media.

http://www.insee.fr/vf/chifcles/frbref/index.php
La France en bref: France through statistics with the INSEE.

http://www.courses.has.vcu.edu/smoore/educ.html
The French education system.

http://www.info-france-usa.org/
French embassy in Washington (USA). This site has excerpts of the review Le Français dans le Monde.

http://www.francophonie.org/
Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique (ACCT), Agence de la francophonie.

http://www.culture.fr
Ministère de la culture.

http://www.adminet.com/tow/#congr
Information on French cities and towns, French regions, Overseas French regions, French Départements, post codes, French “mairies”, properties, etc…

http://www.adminet.com/gov.html#institutions
A site on French institutions. (La Constitution, Le Président de la République, Le Parlement, Le Sénat, Le Conseil D’Etat, Organisations politiques françaises, L’hymne national, …)

http://www.french-language-guide.com
French Language schools, dictionary, words and other resources about french.

Currency converter: The best one seems to be http://www.xe.com/

Driving tips for France, and much more. This personalized page by Jeff Steiner has many good suggestions for anglophones - especially Americans - traveling in France, not the least of which are his guidelines to understanding French signs and staying alive on French roads. www.americansinfrance.net

Electricity, portable telephones, roaming advice etc: In France 220-230 volts, 50 amps is standard. The socket is the type with two round holes, and sometimes with an earth pin, in a larger circular recess, is common in France and most of Europe (except UK). A good country-by-country database of plugs and lots more information is at http://kropla.com/  Click through the password window which doesn't seem to stop you. You will find France-US adaptors in each of our apartments and at the B&B. Transformers on demand. This site by Steve Kropla has evolved the past few years and is invaluable for those who need to stay wired. For finding free wi-fi hotspots in France, the US and elsewhere try http://wififreespot.com/. It lists one just two blocks from our apartments, on rue Oberkampf although you would be hard-pressed to find a faster, more convenient one than we have in each apartment.

Events in France, such as festivals, concerts, exhibitions and visits, markets and fairs, sports events and shows, are visible in English and French on www.tourisme.fr, a site that regroups the 3600 local tourist boards and "syndicats d'initiative" as they are often called. You can find a site by type, date, region or city. There is quite a lot of other useful information at this url. I haven't explored it all.

French links: check out

http://www.linksfr.com/links/directory/Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging/Lodging.html for a variety of useful links concerning France.

Getting along in France: French or Foe? by Polly Platt seems appreciated by francophiles and francophobes alike so she must have hit a happy median. Check out a diverse set of reviews at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ts/book-customer-reviews/0964668408/qid%3D958494910/102-5191486-0138436 before you buy. You now get this book used from Amazon for as little as $2. It has good information. She purveys her consulting work on her own web site at http://www.PollyPlatt.com 

Getting along in France: Culture Shock! Paris At Your Door by Frances Gendlin is more recent and doesn't have the years of hype of Platt's book to boost it. More matter of fact with valuable advice on how to find a residence, conduct business, and relax in Paris. Insights into why the French are the way they are. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558684050/qid=958495830/sr=1-1/102-5191486-0138436

Maps of France: If you can't wait to get to France to buy your topo maps for hiking or general maps for touring try this comprehensive source in North Carolina

http://www.omnimap.com:80/catalog/int/france1.htm  It has a very matter-of-fact shopping cart approach. FYI our B&B is on the IGN 2613 Est topographic map at 1:25,000. Another company, apparently British based, has a more chic interface permitting you to input the name of the town or feature that interests you and it will find the relevant IGN map for you : http://www.map-guides.com/ign/  TIP If you are traveling in the area of our B&B you will find us on the Michelin 1/180,000 yellow series no. 306, at D8. This map covers about all you might want to see in the Champagne growing region. It shows EVERY road which is not the case with the Michelin red series.

Paris.org is an excellent information source in English at http://www.paris.org/parisfull.html created by Paris lover, Norman Barth. It now has thousands of pages on many aspects of visiting and enjoying the city such as General tourist information - Métro and buses - Monuments - Museums and much, much more. Don't visit Paris without visiting this site. 

Paris Métro map: print this map of the RATP underground métro system (http://www.paris.org/Metro/gifs/metro.map.jpg)  on your color inkjet and bring with you. The ones distributed free are usually too small to read. Our apartments are in the triangle between the stops Ménilmontant, Père Lachaise and St.Maur. This is just one of the Paris.org pages mentioned above.

Paris Tourism through the eyes of the Paris Tourist Office is worth a stop at http://www.paris-touristoffice.com/ 

Père Lachaise Cemetery: This is a "must" visit and only a five minute walk from our apartments. See Norman Barth's list of famous people (including Heloise and Abelard, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf...) and their location in this vast landscaped park at http://www.paris.org/Expos/PereLachaise/ 

Photographer's Guide to Paris: A great web page, not only for camera bugs. Useful information of all sorts about the city by Philip Greenspun: http://photo.net/france/paris 

Tourism - Château-Thierry:   Here the Office of Tourism in Chateau-Thierry is developing a comprehensive site for the southern part of the Aisne Department (where we are located), for the most part in French so far, with general information and, most useful for us, a calendar of events such as fairs, flea markets, etc. www.otsichateau-thierry.com  The most important historical site near us is the Chateau de Condé-en-Brie, www.chateaudeconde.com. Besides tours they make the chateau available for weddings and events. Ten minutes from our B&B.

Tourism - Aisne:  www.aisne.com is a general site with an excellent English version about the whole Aisne Department in which our B&B is located. 

Tourism - Marne: we are two kms from this department which contains the champagne cities of Epernay and Reims (Rheims for the anglophones). They have an excellent site in English, German and Dutch at http://www.tourisme-en-champagne.com/cdt/the_discovery_guide.htm 

Travelling tips: This site by Doug Dyment is dedicated to making you "The Compleat Carry-On Traveller". If you haven't discovered the joys of packing no more than you can carry on the plane with you, stop by here. http://www.onebag.com/. This is another one of those usable sites with extensive references to travel resources and information which has evolved enormously since I put this links page up five years ago. Check it out.

Trip route planning: See http://mapquest.com/directions/europe.adp for an efficient itinerary routing system which covers all Europe. 

Weather in France and near the B&B: This handy site at the University of Michigan http://cirrus.sprl.umich.edu/wxnet/ will tell you what we can expect here in Reuilly for the next few days. Just type "Reims, France" in the query space.

Wine Guide : http://www.travelenvoy.com/ is an good source of information about the world's wines and wineries. We used it to help plan our trips to New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. Nor will you be disappointed by its section on Champagne !

BSI ISO 9001:2000 accreditation