Posts Tagged ‘France’
Get Familiar With French Traffic Rules
March 16, 2010
If you’re thinking about a self drive holiday to France never forget to take the mandatory papers along with you in case you get stopped by the French police. It is not unusual for police in France to set up random road checks to make sure people are driving lawfully.
An official ID card, documents confirming car ownership, insurance papers and driving license are the documents which should be produced to the police if asked to during driving in France. Car crimes in France is a growing menace and so the periodical checks.
The identity card must be a national identity card or a passport. Most foreign driving licenses are acceptable in France for up to one year of your arrival in the country. Card ownership papers are known as cart gris in French which means grey car, while insurance documents are known as cart vert, or green card.
If you own a used car then ensure to collect the concerned documents from the previous owner because police has every right to impose fine on you when you are caught driving in France without the car ownership proofs.
Take Photocopies of these car related documents and never place them anywhere in the car because they could be found by others. This is because of the fact that the thefts related to car are ever growing in France and take care you should not fall a prey to these crimes. Moreover you should not be held by the police in France.
Always keep it in mind that you are driving in a foreign country and things are a little different in France. It is illegal to turn right at a red light in France where as in the US it is okay. Otherwise driving should be a pleasurable experience in France.
While driving in France be particularly conscious of the fact that all drivers coming from the right have prime concern. This is irrespective of the sizes of the two roads and even applies on T junctions. French drivers are familiar with this so will often pull out of smaller paths onto busy main roads hoping you to slow down. The anomaly to this rule in France is while you are on traffic circles. In such cases preference goes to the person already on the circle.
50km p/h is the speed limit permitted in the built up roads of France. Do not exceed this limit and slow down further when you are driving on busy roads. A white sign with red borders containing the name of the place in black informs that you are entering a built up area. Similarly you can increase the speed once you leave the built up area indicated by the same sign with a red diagonal line.
Auto routes in France may be passed through at a speed limit of 130km p/h. These are the largest motorways in France. Dual carriageways can go at a speed of 110km p/h. These speed limits are regrettably not shown on the traffic boards in France and it is compulsory that you know them once you are in France and driving.
Driving in France shares alot in common with other parts of continental Europe. If you want to travel with less responsibility then look into French high speed TGV trains.
Famous TGV Train In France
March 10, 2010
France’s TGV, which stands fortrain a grande viteese or high speed train in English, is world renowned for its speed and convenience. The TGV runs on five major tracks in France.
The south-east TGV line links the cities of Avignon, Dijon, Lyon, Nice, Marseille and Perpignon of south east of France and this make its way through the French Alps and also has a stop at Geneva in Switzerland.
The TGV Atlantic line connects the capital city of France to the west coast. Major stops on this TGV train line are Nantes, the Loire Valley, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Toulouse and the French Basque country.
The TGV northern line is linked between Paris and Lille and Calais which are the main cities in northern France.
Eurostar, probably the most famous train line, runs between Paris and London via the Channel Tunnel, stopping at Lille, Calias and Ashford in Kent on the way.
The high speed TGV Thalys links major European cities including Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne thus making it easy to travel to major cities in Europe from France.
Since the high speed train travel service has largely improved in the last few years, travelling via Paris is no longer a mandatory feature while travelling between provincial cities in France. For example the TGV line between Lyons and Nantes is direct now. So is with Bordeaux and Lilles and too many other cities.
515 km p/h is the record speed for the TGV as of now. The TGV normally goes at a speed of 280-300km p/h while in service.
Many types of special offers make the procedure of purchasing a train ticket a difficult one. The Eurailpass which is meant particularly for non-European travellers can be purchased in your own country and this costs 30% cheaper than what it costs in France. This pass authorizes an limitless travel in France for a period of over 2 weeks.
The France TGV train is a source of pride to French railway engineers. To read more about train travel in France please click on the links.
Memories Within French Life
December 5, 2009
The French celebrate their holidays about like we do but theirs have a lot of time honored traditions still within them today. Maybe we all should take a hint from that and apply some old time traditions into our own celebrations for the holidays?
France has Strong religious Catholic beliefs and Easter is a important holiday for everyone. The bells stop ringing within a three day period up until Easter’s when all let out their glorious chimes. Everyone hugs and kisses one another once the chimes are heard all over to show peace and love as well as joy for this special day.
Children in France do not believe in the Easter bunny. The Flying Bells return on Easter morning and leave a trail of chocolate covered eggs in their wake. They are hidden among the houses and the gardens of children’s homes for them to search out and find.
France has a glorious Christmas season. Shops and residence are all decked out in holiday cheer. In homes some people still choose to decorate in old world style with candies in delectable arrays and nuts on their trees instead of the more modern glittery and lighted ones others choose to use. Stockings will not be hung by the hearths here, it is shoes instead to be filled by Pere Noel on Christmas Eve.
Trees are not decorated as we do here in the states. They are done up in lovely candies and mixed nuts. Dinners are always served on Christmas Eve night after the Christmas Mass is over. The meal can have delicious recipes from chicken, goose, capon, turkey and a white pudding.
There is also another holiday in France that is in commemoration of the Paris prison called the Bastille being attacked by many unhappy townspeople who did not like the things that went on at this horrible place.
Fireworks can be seen all over the towns on Bastille Day and last until late night. People also have dances within the streets and love parades of all kinds to celebrate this day.
Tradition is for the groom to smash the top of a bottle of champagne or wine with a saber made just for such events. Napoleon has some ties to the origination of this.
The troops of Napoleons armies would ask ladies to hold their own bottles skyward and then lop off the necks with their sabers and drink and feast afterwards. What fun they had then. We smartened up quite a bit since then and decided that was not a very safe way of doing it.
Holiday time in the French life is a time to enjoy family and friends and spend time with those you do not often get to see. The French take these holidays to heart and since several centuries ago have given their workers the option of having a complete five weeks of holiday time off from work. Workers can use this for whatever holidays they decide upon. I think that would be a custom we would all love to have enforced in our country?
Everyone feels they want have the French Life. If you want to discover a little more about Living in France, you shall find that there are a lot of places where you can get more info.