FRANCE

FEATURES TO WHET YOUR APPETITE

1.    Retrace the footsteps of the American soldiers who landed in Normandy in June 1944 to help free Europe from the Nazi yoke and be humbled at the graves of the thousands of young men who did not return.

2.    Attend a classical concert in Louis IX's Gothic masterpiece of Sainte Chapelle and, as well as experiencing the breathtaking acoustics, the light will change colour as the sun goes down outside the massive stained glass windows.

3.    Explore the narrow streets of Mont St.Michel whose history, architecture and spectacular site combine to justify its description as 'The Wonder of the Western World."

4.    Understand Picasso as you progress chronologically through his life in the Picasso Museum in Paris, which explains the influences in his life and what he was attempting to portray in his art.

5.    Have your portrait painted by a budding Picasso or Van Gogh in the artists' haunt of La Place du Tertre or simply sip a coffee, whilst watching the artists and street entertainers at work.

6.    Make your own pilgrimage to Rocamadour, one of the four great pilgrimage destinations in the Middle Ages, where pilgrims used to climb hundreds of steps on their knees as penance.

7.    Contrast the heights and depths of human achievement by visiting Notre Dame in Paris and then visiting the nearby austere monument to the French Jews who were deported to the Nazi death camps.

8.    Take a walking tour around sites painted by Vincent Van Gogh in either Arles or St.Remy de Provence and witness the intensity of the Provencal sunlight which he was trying to capture.

9.    Be amazed at the styles (and the prices) in the haute couture fashion houses, such as Au Printemps and Galeries Lafayette, on the Rue du Faubourg St. Honore.

10.    Clamber around the battlements of the Castle in Fougeres, the largest medieval fortress in Europe.