1.
Tour de France
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The Tour de France is an annual multiple stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. The race was first organized in 1903 to increase sales for the newspaper LAuto, the race has been held annually since its first edition in 1903 except when it was stopped for the two World Wars. As the Tour gained prominence and popularity the race was lengthened, participation expanded from a primarily French field, as riders from all over the world began to participate in the race each year. The Tour is a UCI World Tour event, which means that the teams compete in the race are mostly UCI WorldTeams. Traditionally, the race is primarily in the month of July. The modern editions of the Tour de France consist of 21 day-long segments over a 23-day period, the race alternates between clockwise and counterclockwise circuits of France. The number of teams usually varies between 20 and 22, with nine riders in each, all of the stages are timed to the finish, the riders times are compounded with their previous stage times. The rider with the lowest aggregate time is the leader of the race, gaining a stage win is also a hotly contested competition, fought for by a specialist cycling sprinter on each team. The Tour de France was created in 1903, the roots of the Tour de France trace back to the emergence of two rival sports newspapers in the country. On the one hand was Le Vélo, the first and the largest daily newspaper in France which sold 80,000 copies a day. On the other was LAuto, which had been set-up by journalists and business-people including Comte Jules-Albert de Dion, Adolphe Clément, the new newspaper appointed Henri Desgrange as the editor. He was a prominent cyclist and owner with Victor Goddet of the velodrome at the Parc des Princes, De Dion knew him through his cycling reputation, through the books and cycling articles that he had written, and through press articles he had written for the Clément tyre company. LAuto was not the success its backers wanted, stagnating sales lower than the rival it was intended to surpass led to a crisis meeting on 20 November 1902 on the middle floor of LAutos office at 10 Rue du Faubourg Montmartre, Paris. The last to speak was the most junior there, the chief cycling journalist, Desgrange had poached him from Giffards paper. Lefèvre suggested a six-day race of the sort popular on the track, long-distance cycle races were a popular means to sell more newspapers, but nothing of the length that Lefèvre suggested had been attempted. If it succeeded, it would help LAuto match its rival and it could, as Desgrange said, nail Giffards beak shut. Desgrange and Lefèvre discussed it after lunch, Desgrange was doubtful but the papers financial director, Victor Goddet, was enthusiastic. He handed Desgrange the keys to the safe and said
2.
Massif Central
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The Massif Central is an elevated region in the middle of southern France, consisting of mountains and plateaus. It covers approximately 15 percent of the country, the region was a barrier to transport within France until the opening of the A75 motorway, which not only made north-south travel easier, but also opened up the Massif Central itself. The Massif Central is an old massif, formed during the Variscan orogeny and it was powerfully raised and made to look geologically younger in the eastern section by the uplift of the Alps during the Paleogene period and in the southern section by the uplift of the Pyrenees. These tectonic movements created faults and are maybe at the origin of the volcanism in the Massif Central, in fact, above the crystalline foundation, we can observe many volcanoes of many different types and ages, volcanic plateaus, stratovolcanoes, and small, very recent monogenic volcanoes. The entire region contains a concentration of approximately 450 extinct volcanoes. The strip of Chaîne des Puys, running north to south and less than 60 square miles long, the Auvergne Volcanoes National Park is in the massif. In the south, one region, made up of features called causses in French. The most famous of these is the canyon of Tarn, the following régions are part of the Massif Central, Auvergne, Limousin. Part of the following régions are in the Massif Central, Languedoc-Roussillon, the largest cities are Clermont-Ferrand and Saint-Étienne
3.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
4.
Alsace-Lorraine
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The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east of the Vosges Mountains. The Lorraine section was in the upper Moselle valley to the north of the Vosges, the territory was made up of 93% of Alsace and 26% of Lorraine, the remaining portions of these regions continued to be part of France. For historical reasons, specific legal dispositions are still applied in the territory in the form of a local law, in relation to its special legal status, since its reversion to France following World War I, the territory has been referred to administratively as Alsace-Moselle. Alsace-Lorraine had an area of 14,496 km2. France long sought to attain and preserve its boundaries, which are the Pyrenees to the southwest, the Alps to the southeast. These strategic claims led to the annexation of territories located west of the Rhine river in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. What is now known as Alsace was progressively conquered by Louis XIV in the 17th century and we Germans who know Germany and France know better what is good for the Alsatians than the unfortunates themselves. In the perversion of their French life they have no idea of what concerns Germany. In 1871, the newly created German Empires demand for Alsace from France after its victory in the Franco-Prussian War was not simply a punitive measure. The transfer was controversial even among the Germans, The German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, was opposed to it. Some German industrialists did not want the competition from Alsatian industries, from an ethnic perspective, the transfer involved people who for the most part spoke Alemannic German dialects. From a military perspective, by early 1870s standards, shifting the frontier away from the Rhine would give the Germans a strategic buffer against feared future French attacks, however, domestic politics in the new Reich may have been decisive. Although it was led by Prussia, the new German Empire was a decentralized federal state. As recently as the 1866 Austro-Prussian War, these states had been Prussias enemies, in the new Empires constitution, both states, but especially Bavaria, had been given concessions with regard to local autonomy, including partial control of their military forces. For this reason, the Prussian General Staff argued that it was necessary for the Reichs frontier with France to be under direct Prussian control, thus, by annexing Alsace-Lorraine, Berlin was able to avoid complications with Baden and Bavaria on such matters as new fortifications. Memories of the Napoleonic Wars were still fresh in the 1870s. In the years before 1870, it is arguable that the Germans feared the French more than the French feared the Germans. Many Germans at the thought that the creation of the new Empire in itself would be enough to earn permanent French enmity
5.
Ventimiglia
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Ventimiglia is a city and comune in Liguria, northern Italy, in the province of Imperia. Ventimiglias urban area has a population of 55,000, Ventimiglia is the ancient Albium Intemelium, the capital of the Intemelii, a Ligurian tribe which long resisted the Romans, until in 115 BC it was forced to submit to Marcus Aemilius Scaurus. Albintimilium became a municipium in 89 BC, in AD69 the city was sacked by the army of Otho and Vitellius, but recovered to remain prosperous into the 5th century, surrounded by walls with cylindrical towers built at each change of direction. In the Gothic Wars it was besieged by the Byzantines and the Goths, and later suffered from the raids of Rothari, King of the Lombards, in the 10th century it was attacked by the Saracens of Fraxinet. After a period as an independent commune, it was ruled by the Counts of Ventimiglia, in 1139 the Genoese attacked it by land and sea and forced it to surrender, the count continued to hold the city and countship as a vassal of the victors. The city rebelled more than once against the Genoese and sided with their enemies, in 1271 in a war with Genoa its podestà Luca Grimaldi was captured. Ventimiglia was thus held by the dukes of Savoy and King Ladislaus of Naples. In 1505 it was annexed to the Genoese Republic, sharing its history until the early 19th century, in 1269 the Count of Ventimiglia, Gugliemo Pietro I Balbo married Eudossia Laskaris, daughter of Emperor Theodore II Laskaris. From them started the dynasty of the Lascaris of Tenda and they maintained the sovereign County of Tenda until 1501 when the last of them, Anne Lascaris, married Renato of Savoy and transferred the County to his cadet branch of Savoy dynasty. The most famous exponent of this branch of Lascaris was Beatrice of Tenda, the ruins of the ancient Albintimilium are situated in the plain of Nervia, c.2 kilometres to the east of the modern town. The caves of the Balzi Rossi have proved rich in remains of the Quaternary period. Remains of a family of Cro-Magnon people were discovered, with skeletons of men, women and children. Very important architecturally and historically is the ancient medieval city centre, the Church of San Michele Arcangelo was erected in the 10th century by the Counts of Ventimiglia on the foundations of a pagan temple. Later it was entrusted to the Benedictines of Lirins, in the 11th-12th centuries it was rebuilt in Romanesque style. In 1628 it lost the aisles after an earthquake and it houses milestones from the old Via Iulia Augusta, two of which are used as stoups and one supports the crypts vault. The present Romanesque Cathedral, with an 11th-century baptistery, is built on the ruins of an earlier Lombard church, the municipal library has the second largest collection of 17th-century manuscripts and books in Italy. Near Ventimiglia are the Genoese fortresses of Castel dAppio, Forte San Paolo, Ventimiglia is a popular summer destination for tourists on the French Riviera. Particularly popular all year with visitors from France is the street market, along the seafront of the new town
6.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
7.
Col du Ballon d'Alsace
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The Col du Ballon dAlsace is a mountain pass situated close to the summit of the Ballon dAlsace in the Vosges Mountains of France. It connects Saint-Maurice-sur-Moselle with Masevaux and Belfort, the Ballon dAlsace was the first official mountain climb in the Tour de France on 11 July 1905 although the tour had crossed the slightly lower Col de la République in each of the previous two years. The first rider to the top of the Ballon was René Pottier, Stage 9 of the 2005 Tour crossed this pass on the centenary of the original climb. The historic ascent, as used in the early Tours de France, is from Saint-Maurice-sur-Moselle, from here, the ascent is 9.0 km long climbing 619 m at an average of 6. 9%. From the south, the starts at Malvaux,4.5 km north of Giromagny. The climb is 12.4 km long, gaining 643 m at an average of 5. 2%, from Sewen, the climb is 13.2 km long, at an average of 5. 1%, gaining 678 m in height. This climb starts on the D466 and joins the route from the south after 10 km, the middle section is steep, in excess of 8%. The Ballon dAlsace was first crossed by the Tour de France on the stage of the 1905 tour. In the first two Tours de France, the race had crossed the Col de la République south of Saint-Etienne. Although only 17 metres higher than the Col de la République, unfortunately, the pace of his ascent exacerbated injuries that he had sustained in a fall on Stage 1, and Pottier was forced to withdraw from the race the next day. Thus was the myth born that the Col dAlsace was the first mountain crossing in the history of the Tour de France, the Tour returned to the Ballon dAlsace the following year and Pottier was again the first rider over the summit. He arrived at Saint-Maurice-sur-Moselle in a group of 19 riders, according to LAuto, At the foot of the climb, Pottier bolted and he hadnt reached the first hairpin before the group was torn apart. The other riders soon dropped away with only Augustin Ringeval able to keep in contact with Pottier although even he was dropped well before the summit, Pottier. A brief but terrifying duel breaks out, until, making a demand from his boundless reserves. Ringeval loses ground, makes it up again with a magnificent effort, then back again. Pottier crossed the summit alone, over four minutes ahead of the rider and maintained his lead into the stage finish at Dijon. Pottier was found hanged at his home the following January, having committed suicide, following his death, a monument to him was erected at the summit of the Col du Ballon dAlsace. The Tour de France crossed over the Col du Ballon dAlsace every year between 1905 and 1914, and then five times in the 1930s
8.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
9.
Lille
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Lille is a city in northern France, in French Flanders. On the Deûle River, near Frances border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, archeological digs seem to show the area as inhabited by as early as 2000 BC, most notably in the modern-day quartiers of Fives, Wazemmes, and Vieux Lille. The legend of Lydéric and Phinaert puts the foundation of the city of Lille at 640, in the 8th century, the language of Old Low Franconian was spoken here, as attested by toponymic research. Lilles Dutch name is Rijsel, which comes from ter ijsel, the French equivalent has the same meaning, Lille comes from lîle. From 830 until around 910, the Vikings invaded Flanders, after the destruction caused by Norman and Magyar invasion, the eastern part of the region was ruled by various local princes. The first mention of the dates from 1066, apud Insulam. At the time, it was controlled by the County of Flanders, the County of Flanders thus extended to the left bank of the Scheldt, one of the richest and most prosperous regions of Europe. A notable local in this period was Évrard, who lived in the 9th century and participated in many of the days political, there was an important Battle of Lille in 1054. From the 12th century, the fame of the Lille cloth fair began to grow, in 1144 Saint-Sauveur parish was formed, which would give its name to the modern-day quartier Saint-Sauveur. Infante Ferdinand, Count of Flanders was imprisoned and the county fell into dispute, it would be his wife, Jeanne, Countess of Flanders and Constantinople and she was said to be well loved by the residents of Lille, who by that time numbered 10,000. He pushed the kingdoms of Flanders and Hainaut towards sedition against Jeanne in order to recover his land and she called her cousin, Louis VIII. He unmasked the imposter, whom Countess Jeanne quickly had hanged, in 1226 the King agreed to free Infante Ferdinand, Count of Flanders. Count Ferrand died in 1233, and his daughter Marie soon after, in 1235, Jeanne granted a city charter by which city governors would be chosen each All Saints Day by four commissioners chosen by the ruler. On 6 February 1236, she founded the Countesss Hospital, which one of the most beautiful buildings in Old Lille. It was in her honour that the hospital of the Regional Medical University of Lille was named Jeanne of Flanders Hospital in the 20th century, the Countess died in 1244 in the Abbey of Marquette, leaving no heirs. The rule of Flanders and Hainaut thus fell to her sister, Margaret II, Countess of Flanders, then to Margarets son, Lille fell under the rule of France from 1304 to 1369, after the Franco-Flemish War. The county of Flanders fell to the Duchy of Burgundy next, after the 1369 marriage of Margaret III, Countess of Flanders, Lille thus became one of the three capitals of said Duchy, along with Brussels and Dijon. By 1445, Lille counted some 25,000 residents, Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, was even more powerful than the King of France, and made Lille an administrative and financial capital
10.
Douai
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Douai is a commune in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department, located on the river Scarpe some 40 kilometres from Lille and 25 km from Arras, Douai is home to one of the regions most impressive belfries. The population of the area, including Lens, was 552,682 in 1999. The main industries in the town are in the chemical and metal engineering sectors, Renault has a large vehicle assembly plant near the town, which has produced many well known Renault vehicles, such as the R14, R11, R19, and the Megane and Scenic of today. The Gare de Douai railway station is served by trains towards Lille, Arras, Lens, Amiens, Saint-Quentin. It is also connected to the TGV network, with high speed trains to Paris, Lyon, Nantes and its site probably corresponds to that of a 4th-century Roman fortress known as Duacum. From 10th century the town was a fiefdom of the counts of Flanders. The town became a textile market centre during the Middle Ages. In 1384, the county of Flanders passed into the domains of the Dukes of Burgundy, in 1667, Douai was taken by the troops of Louis XIV of France, and by the 1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the town was ceded to France. During successive sieges from 1710 to 1712, Douai was almost completely destroyed by the British Army, by 1713, the town was fully integrated into France. Douai became the seat of the Parliament of Flanders, the town is still a transportation and commercial center for the area, which was known up to the Sixties for its coalfield, the richest in northern France. Douais ornate Gothic style belfry was begun in 1380, on the site of an earlier tower, the 80 m high structure includes an impressive carillon, consisting of 62 bells spanning 5 octaves. The originals, some dating from 1391 were removed in 1917 during World War I by the occupying German forces and they were reinstalled after repairs in 1924, but 47 of them were replaced in 1954 to obtain a better sound. An additional larger bell in the summit, a La called Joyeuse, dates from 1471, the chimes are rung by a mechanism every quarter-hour, but are also played via a keyboard on Saturday mornings and at certain other times. The substantial Porte de Valenciennes town gate, a reminder of the towns past military importance, was built in 1453, one face is built in Gothic style, while the other is of Classical design. The University of Douai was founded under the patronage of Phillip II and it was prominent, from the 1560s until the French Revolution, as a centre for the education of English Catholics escaping the persecution in England. Connected with the University were not only the English College, Douai, founded by William Allen, but also the Irish and Scottish colleges and the Benedictine, Franciscan and Jesuit houses. However, the community was expelled at the time of the French Revolution in 1793 and, after years of wandering, finally settled at Downside Abbey, Somerset
11.
Nancy, France
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Nancy is the capital of the north-eastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, and formerly the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, and then the French province of the same name. The metropolitan area of Nancy had a population of 410,509 inhabitants at the 1999 census,103,602 of whom lived in the city of Nancy proper. The motto of the city is Non inultus premor, Latin for Im not touched with impunity—a reference to the thistle, the earliest signs of human settlement in the area date back to 800 BC. Early settlers were attracted by easily mined iron ore and a ford in the Meurthe River. A small fortified town named Nanciacum was built by Gérard, Duke of Lorraine around 1050, Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy, was defeated and killed in the Battle of Nancy in 1477, René II, Duke of Lorraine became the ruler. In 1736 Emperor Charles arranged her marriage to Duke François of Lorraine, exiled Polish king Stanisław Leszczyński, father-in-law of French king Louis XV, was given the vacant duchy instead. Under his nominal rule, Nancy experienced growth and a flowering of Baroque culture and architecture, with his death in 1766, the duchy became a regular French province and Nancy lost its position as a residential capital city with its own princely court and patronage. As unrest surfaced within the French armed forces during the French Revolution, a few reliable units laid siege to the town and shot or imprisoned the mutineers. In 1871, Nancy remained French when Prussia annexed Alsace-Lorraine, the flow of refugees reaching Nancy doubled its population in three decades. Artistic, academic, financial and industrial excellence flourished, establishing what is still the Capital of Lorraines trademark to this day, Nancy was freed from Nazi Germany by the U. S. Third Army in September 1944, during the Lorraine Campaign of World War II at the Battle of Nancy ), in 1988, Pope John Paul II visited Nancy. In 2005, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Nancy is situated on the left bank of the river Meurthe, about 10 km upstream from its confluence with the Moselle. The Marne–Rhine Canal runs through the city, parallel to the Meurthe, Nancy is surrounded by hills that are about 150 m higher than the city center, which is situated at 200 m amsl. The area of Nancy proper is small,15 km2. Its built-up area is continuous with those of its adjacent suburbs, the neighboring communes of Nancy are, Jarville-la-Malgrange, Laxou, Malzéville, Maxéville, Saint-Max, Tomblaine, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy and Villers-lès-Nancy. Adjacent to its south is the quarter Charles III – Centre Ville and this quarter contains the famous Place Stanislas, the Nancy Cathedral, the Opéra national de Lorraine and the main railway station. The old city centers heritage dates from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, the cathedral of Nancy, the Triumphal Arch and the Place de la Carriere are a fine examples of 18th-century architecture. The Palace of the Dukes of Lorraine is the princely residence of the rulers
12.
Dijon
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Dijon is a city in eastern France, capital of the Côte-dOr département and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. The earliest archaeological finds within the city limits of Dijon date to the Neolithic period, Dijon later became a Roman settlement named Divio, located on the road from Lyon to Paris. Population,151,576 within the city limits,250,516 for the greater Dijon area, the city has retained varied architectural styles from many of the main periods of the past millennium, including Capetian, Gothic and Renaissance. Many still-inhabited town houses in the central district date from the 18th century. Dijon architecture is distinguished by, among other things, toits bourguignons made of tiles glazed in terracotta, green, yellow and black, Dijon holds an International and Gastronomic Fair every year in autumn. With over 500 exhibitors and 200,000 visitors every year, Dijon is also home, every three years, to the international flower show Florissimo. The historical center of the city has been registered since July 4,2015 as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the earliest archaeological finds within the city limits of Dijon date to the Neolithic period. Dijon later became a Roman settlement called Divio, which may mean sacred fountain, saint Benignus, the citys apocryphal patron saint, is said to have introduced Christianity to the area before being martyred. The Duchy of Burgundy was a key in the transformation of medieval times toward early modern Europe, the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy now houses city hall and a museum of art. In 1513, Swiss and Imperial armies invaded Burgundy and besieged Dijon, the siege was extremely violent, but the town succeeded in resisting the invaders. After long negotiations, Louis II de la Trémoille managed to persuade the Swiss, during the siege, the population called on the Virgin Mary for help and saw the towns successful resistance and the subsequent withdrawal of the invaders as a miracle. For those reasons, in the following the siege the inhabitants of Dijon began to venerate Notre-Dame de Bon-Espoir. Although a few areas of the town were destroyed, there are no signs of the siege of 1513 visible today. However, Dijons museum of arts has a large tapestry depicting this episode in the towns history. Dijon is situated at the heart of a plain drained by two small converging rivers, the Suzon, which crosses it mostly underground from north to south, farther south is the côte, or hillside, of vineyards that gives the department its name. Dijon lies 310 km southeast of Paris,190 km northwest of Geneva, the average low of winter is −1 °C, with an average high of 4.2 °C. The average high of summer is 25.3 °C with a low of 14.7 °C. Average normal temperatures are between 2.3 °C and 5.3 °C from November to March, and 17.2 to 19.7 °C from June to August, the climate is oceanic but with a greater temperature range than closer to the Atlantic coastline
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Emile Georget (FRA)
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Aloïs Catteau (BEL)
Media related to 1906 Tour de France at Wikimedia Commons
