1. France

2. American Airlines- $714 , Nov. 20 – Nov. 28
Travel Time- Seattle to NY- NY to Paris 14h-30m,
Distance- 6,023 miles

3. Le Village Hostel $31.00/Night Features
Free Breakfast
Kitchen
24 Hour Free Hot Showers
Lounge / Common space
Bar
Clothes Dryer TV
Phones (public or in room)
Travel information provided
Elevator/Lift
Currency Exchange
Bike Rental
$31.00/Night
Le Village is an easy find, just two blocks from the Anvers stop on metro line 2. It's easily accessible from all of the main train stations, though you might have to transfer once or twice depending on how far away they are.
Smoking is allowed
Very social, but noisy at night

4. Family Members From France

5. The Flag of France

6. History of the French Flag
The colors are from that of Paris (blue), that of the French Revolution (red), combined with that of the Bourbon Dynasty (white), though they are usually associated with liberty, equality, and fraternity, the ideals of the French Revolution.

7. Map of France
Two thirds of France is mountains and hills, with the Alps, Pyrenees and Vosges ranges. Mont Blanc in the Alps is the highest mountain in Europe. The Mediterranean coast includes the popular tourist area, the French Riviera. Its hot, dry summers and mild winters make it a popular beach area.

8. France Facts
France is the second largest country in Europe, with the fifth largest population in Europe. Population: 57.5 million
Geographic size: 212,935 square miles
Capital: Paris
Major cities and population: Paris million people, Lyon million, Marseille million, Lille - 950,000 and Bordeaux - 640,000.

9. Apple pie a la Bretagne
French Apple Pie 150g butter (3/4 cup) 4 eggs About 1 Tbsp vanilla sugar 1 pinch salt 1 pinch baking powder 150g flour (roughly 1 1/2 cups) 150g sugar (white or brown) (about 1 1/3 cups) 500g apples (a sweet sort, I picked Golden Delicious apples) (Roughly 1 lb of apples) some powdered sugar 2cl (about 4 teaspoons) Calvados (or Apple Brandy. You can leave out the Calvados if you don't have any).
Step 1:
Melt the butter, let it cool down a bit while you peel your apples, cut them in quarters and cut the center out. Put your sugar, eggs, vanilla sugar, butter, salt and calvados in a big bowl and mix it until it's foamy.
Step 2:
Next, slice your apples into thin slices, like this:

10. Step 3:
Pour the flour and the pinch of baking powder into your egg, sugar, and butter mixture and mix it up until it's smooth. Then put about 4/5th of your apples in there, and gently mix it up until all slices are covered in batter. Grease a round cake pan (medium sized) and pour everything into it, smooth it out. Remember the 1/5th of apple slices you have left over? Grab them and try to arrange them nicely on top of the batter. (As you can see, I tried to arrange them and failed!) Bake the French apple pie around 200°C (395°F) on the lowest level in your oven for about 50 minutes. Please check on the pie regularly, and at around minutes, if you see the top getting brown, cover it up with foil and finish baking.
Step 4:
This is what the French apple pie looks like fresh out of the oven!
Step 5:
Let the French apple pie cool off for a while, and then dust the powdered sugar over the pie!

11. This is what a slice of French apple pie looks like, the apples create layers in the cake and it's really moist and has a lot of apple flavor!

12. French Folk Song
Au clair de la lune, mon ami Pierrot
Prête-moi ta plume, pour écrire un mot.
Ma chandelle est morte, je n'ai plus de feu.
Ouvre-moi ta porte, pour l'amour de Dieu.
Au clair de la lune, Pierrot répondit
Je n'ai pas de plume, je suis dans mon lit.
Va chez la voisine, je crois qu'elle y est
Car dans sa cuisine, on bat le briquet.
Au clair de la lune, l'aimable Lubin
Frappe chez la brune, elle répond soudain
"Qui frappe de la sorte ? ", il dit à son tour
"Ouvrez votre porte pour le Dieu d'Amour"
Au clair de la lune, on n'y voit qu'un peu
On chercha la plume, on chercha du feu
En cherchant d'la sorte je n'sais c'qu'on trouva
Mais je sais qu'la porte sur eux se ferma.
Under the moonlight, my friend Pierrot,
Lend me your pen, so I could write a word.
My candle is out, I've no more light.
Open your door for me, for the love of God.
Under the moonlight, Pierrot replied,
I've no pen; I'm in my bed.
Go next door, I believe that she is in,
For in the kitchen, someone lit a match.
Under the moonlight, friendly Lubin
Knocks at the brunette's door, she suddenly replies
"Who's knocking this way", he says in his turn
"Open your door, for the god of love."
Under the moonlight, little can be seen
The pen was looked for, fire was looked for
Searching this way, I don't know what was found
But I do know that the door, on them was shut.

13. Gustave Eiffel (b. Dijon, France 1832; d. Paris, France 1923)
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was born in Dijon France in He graduated from the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, Paris in 1855 and joined a Belgian firm which specialized in railway equipment. He established an independent practice in 1864 after which he established a career as an engineer-contractor.
Eiffel was a master of elegantly constructed wrought-iron lattices, which formed the basis of his bridge constructions and led to his project for the Eiffel Tower. He was mainly recognized as an engineer and bridge builder.
Eiffel died in Paris in 1923

14. Eiffel Tower Weight: 7,000 tons
Rivets: 2,500,000
Steel pieces: 18,038
Built: Workers Killed during Construction: 1
Steps to Top: 1665
Height: meters (986 feet)

18. Bastille Day
Americans have The 4th of July; the French have Bastille Day.
On July 14, 1789, an outraged group of Parisians stormed the Bastille, a fortress and prison in France where prisoners of influence were held, in hopes of capturing ammunition.
Shortly thereafter, King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette took refuge in Versailles as the violent peasants pillaged and burned châteaux, and destroyed records of feudal dues;
For the peasant class, the Bastille stood as a symbol of the hypocrisy and corruption of the aristocratic government - controlled mostly by nobility and clergy.
This important event marked the entry of the popular class into the French Revolution.
The French recognize Bastille Day as the end of the monarchy and beginning of the modern republic. The lasting significance of the event was in its recognition that power could be held by ordinary citizens, not in the King or in God.
Today, Parisians celebrate this national holiday with a grand military parade up the Champs Elysées, colorful arts festivals, and raucous parties marking the holiday. Uncork a bottle of wine, pop in a Jacques Dutronc CD, and join the celebration!

19. Bastille Day Celebration

20. Nicolas Sarkozy

21. Nicolas Sarkozy Facts Sárközy was born in 1928 in Budapest Hungary
Sarkozy's political career began at 22 when he became a city councillor
On 16 May 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy became the sixth person elected President of the French Fifth Republic
He married super model Carla Bruni on Feb. 2, 2008
Nicolas Sarkozy supports President Bush

22. French Money
1 Euro is equivalent to $1.33There are eight coins of the euro, ranging in value from one cent to two euros (each euro is divided into a hundred cents).

23. French Folk Art

24. Impression, Sunrise
Painting Title: (Impression, soleil levant) 1872 Oil on canvas Claude Monet

25. Edgar Degas
Aux courses en province At the Races in the Country c Oil on canvas

26. Georges-Pierre Seurat
Painter, founder of the 19th-century French school of Neo-Impressionism
Pointillism- detached strokes of pure color too small to be distinguished
The Seine at Le Grande Jatte,
Oil on Canvas,
1888

27. French Words/Phrases Hello: bonjour Good-bye: bon au revoir
Where is the Restroom?: Où est les toilettes?
Please: S'il vous plaît
Where is a bank? Où est la banque?
Where is a restaurant?: Où est un restaurant ?
Do you have the time?: Avez-vous le temps ?
Thank you: Merci

28. The Roue de Paris Opened for public operation in December 1999.
The giant ferris wheel was built to celebrate the year 2000.
200 feet high
Transportable
Adults are 8 Euros.
Infants to 10 are 6 Euros.

29. French Alps Hiking
Nice to Briancon
255 km
130 Euros

30. The Hike "The Grand Traverse of the Alps" - 400 miles
From the shores of the Mediterranean to the shores of Lake Geneva. 
Trail may starts and ends at low altitude bodies of water, but in between are the classic long distance alpine walking trails in the whole of Europe. 
Beds to sleep in most nights is a pleasant change.
Accommodations range from simple mountain huts and gites to regular hotels and inns, as well as campsites.
Participants must be experienced hikers with the personality and flexibility to do a long distance hike in alpine terrain. 
The hike can be done in sections for those who do not have the time to do a full 30 day hike.