1.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
2.
SNCF
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SNCF is Frances national state-owned railway company and manages the rail traffic in France and the Principality of Monaco. SNCF operates the national rail services, including the TGV. Its functions include operation of services for passengers and freight. SNCF employs more than 180,000 people in 120 countries around the globe, the railway network consists of about 32,000 km of route, of which 1,800 km are high-speed lines and 14,500 km electrified. About 14,000 trains are operated daily, since July 2013, SNCF headquarters are located in a Parisian suburb at 2, place aux Étoiles,93200 Saint Denis. In 2010 SNCF was ranked 22nd in France and 214th globally on the Fortune Global 500 list and it is the main business of the SNCF group, which in 2014 employed 245,763 people and had €27.2 billion of sales in 120 countries. The chairman of the SNCF group is Guillaume Pépy, SNCF operates almost all of Frances railway system, including the TGV, In the 1970s, SNCF began the TGV high-speed train programme with the intention of creating the worlds fastest railway network. It came to fruition in 1981, when the first TGV service, today, SNCF operates 1,850 km of designated high-speed track that accommodate more than 800 high-speed services per day. SNCF’s TGV trains carry more than 100 million passengers a year, TGV lines and TGV technology are now spread across several European countries in addition to South Korea.8 km/h. SNCF has a safety record. After nearly 30 years in operation, SNCF’s TGV system has experienced one fatal accident. SNCF also owns the tracks and the stations, since the 1990s, SNCF has been selling railway carriages to regional governments, with the creation of the Train Express Régional brand. SNCF also maintains a broad scope of business that includes work on freight lines, inter-city lines. SNCF experts provide logistics, design, construction, operations and maintenance services, SNCF operates the international ticketing agency, Voyages SNCF. SNCF has employees in 120 countries offering extensive overseas and cross border consulting and those projects include, Israel, Assistance and Training. SNCF International provides assistance to Israel Railways in every area of operations including projects to upgrade the networks general safety regulations. Other assistance and training programmes involve Infrastructure and the Traction Division, SNCF supervised the prime contractor responsible for construction of the Taiwan Railways Administration’s main high-speed rail line. It also trained rail traffic controllers, drivers, and crew members, on behalf of the Government of Taiwan, SNCF managed the high-speed railway Command Control Centre
3.
Marseille
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Marseille, also known as Marseilles in English, is a city in France. Known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Massalia, Marseille was the most important trading centre in the region, Marseille is now Frances largest city on the Mediterranean coast and the largest port for commerce, freight and cruise ships. The city was European Capital of Culture, together with Košice, Slovakia and it hosted the European Football Championship in 2016, and will be the European Capital of Sport in 2017. The city is home to campuses of Aix-Marseille University and part of one of the largest metropolitan conurbations in France. Marseille is the second largest city in France after Paris and the centre of the third largest metropolitan area in France after Paris, further east still are the Sainte-Baume, the city of Toulon and the French Riviera. To the north of Marseille, beyond the low Garlaban and Etoile mountain ranges, is the 1,011 m Mont Sainte Victoire. To the west of Marseille is the artists colony of lEstaque, further west are the Côte Bleue, the Gulf of Lion. The airport lies to the north west of the city at Marignane on the Étang de Berre, the citys main thoroughfare stretches eastward from the Old Port to the Réformés quarter. Two large forts flank the entrance to the Old Port—Fort Saint-Nicolas on the south side and Fort Saint-Jean on the north. Further out in the Bay of Marseille is the Frioul archipelago which comprises four islands, one of which, If, is the location of Château dIf, the main commercial centre of the city intersects with the Canebière at rue St Ferréol and the Centre Bourse. To the south east of central Marseille in the 6th arrondissement are the Prefecture and the fountain of Place Castellane. To the south west are the hills of the 7th arrondissement, the railway station—Gare de Marseille Saint-Charles—is north of the Centre Bourse in the 1st arrondissement, it is linked by the Boulevard dAthènes to the Canebière. Marseille has a Mediterranean climate with mild, humid winters and warm to hot, december, January, and February are the coldest months, averaging temperatures of around 12 °C during the day and 4 °C at night. Marseille is officially the sunniest major city in France with over 2,900 hours of sunshine while the average sunshine in France is around 1,950 hours, less frequent is the Sirocco, a hot, sand-bearing wind, coming from the Sahara Desert. Snowfalls are infrequent, over 50% of years do not experience a single snowfall, Massalia, whose name was probably adapted from an existing language related to Ligurian, was the first Greek settlement in France. It was established within modern Marseille around 600 BC by colonists coming from Phocaea on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor. The connection between Massalia and the Phoceans is mentioned in Thucydidess Peloponnesian War, he notes that the Phocaean project was opposed by the Carthaginians, the founding of Massalia has also been recorded as a legend. Protis was invited inland to a banquet held by the chief of the local Ligurian tribe for suitors seeking the hand of his daughter Gyptis in marriage, at the end of the banquet, Gyptis presented the ceremonial cup of wine to Protis, indicating her unequivocal choice
4.
Toulon
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Toulon is a city in southern France and a large military harbour on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-dAzur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department, the Commune of Toulon has a population of 165,514 people, making it the fifteenth-largest city in France. It is the centre of an area with 559,421 inhabitants. Toulon is the fourth-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille, Nice, Toulon is an important centre for naval construction, fishing, wine making, and the manufacture of aeronautical equipment, armaments, maps, paper, tobacco, printing, shoes, and electronic equipment. The military port of Toulon is the naval centre on Frances Mediterranean coast, home of the French Navy aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle. The French Mediterranean Fleet is based in Toulon, archaeological excavations, such as those at the Cosquer Cave near Marseilles, show that the coast of Provence was inhabited since at least the Paleolithic era. The Ligurians settled in the beginning in the 4th century BC. In the 2nd century BC, the residents of Massalia called upon the Romans to help pacify the region. The Romans defeated the Ligurians and began to start their own colonies along the coast, Toulon harbour became a shelter for trading ships, and the name of the town gradually changed from Telo to Tholon, Tolon, and Toulon. Toulon was Christianized in the 5th century, and the first cathedral built, honoratus and Gratianus of Toulon, according to the Gallia Christiana, were the first bishops of Toulon, but Louis Duchesne gives Augustalis as the first historical bishop. He assisted at councils in 441 and 442 and signed in 449 and 450 the letters addressed to Pope Leo I from the province of Arles, a Saint Cyprian, disciple and biographer of St. Cæsarius of Arles, is also mentioned as a Bishop of Toulon. His episcopate, begun in 524, had not come to an end in 541, in 1095, a new cathedral was built in the city by Count Gilbert of Provence. As barbarians invaded the region and Roman power crumbled, the town was attacked by pirates. In 1486 Provence became part of France and his Italian campaign failed, and 1497, the rulers of Genoa, who controlled commerce on that part of the Mediterranean, blockaded the new port. However, a few months later the commander of the new fort sold it to the commander of an Army of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1543, Francis I found a surprising new ally in his battle against the Holy Roman Empire. He invited the fleet of Ottoman Admiral Barbarossa to Toulon as part of the Franco-Ottoman alliance, the residents were forced to leave, and the Ottoman sailors occupied the town for the winter. This fleet carried aboard an army of 8,000 infantry and 800 cavalry and its baggage under Thomas of Savoy, king Louis XIV was determined to make France a major sea power. In 1660, his Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert ordered Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban to build a new arsenal and to fortify the town
5.
Downtown
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Downtown is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a citys core or central business district, often in a geographical or commercial sense. The term is not generally used in British English, whose speakers use the term city centre. The term downtown is thought to have been coined in New York City, uptown also spread, but to a much lesser extent. In both cases, though, the directionality of both words was lost, so that a Bostonian might refer to going downtown, even though it was north of where they were. Downtown lay to the south in Detroit, but to the north in Cleveland, to the east in St. Louis, in Boston, a resident pointed out in 1880, downtown was in the center of the city. Uptown was north of downtown in Cincinnati, but south of downtown in New Orleans, notably, downtown was not included in dictionaries as late as the 1880s. It was the location of the department stores and hotels, as well as the theatres, clubs, cabarets, and dance halls. It was also frequently, at first, the part of a city that was electrified. It was also the place where street congestion was the worst, but most of all, downtown was the place where the city did its business. Inside its small precincts, sometimes as small as several hundred acres, the majority of the trading, selling, there were hubs of business in other places around the city and its environs, but the downtown area was the chief one, truly the central business district. And as more and more business was done downtown, those who had their homes there were gradually pushed out, selling their property, the skyscraper would become the hallmark of the downtown area. What limited them then was the thickness of the masonry needed at the base to hold the weight of the building above it. As the buildings got taller, the thickness of the masonry, although first used in Chicago, the steel-framed skyscraper caught on most quickly in New York City in the 1880s, and from there spread to most other American cities in the 1890s and 1900s. In the short run, the proponents of height limits were successful in their efforts, what was worse, at least to real estate interests, the building dumped 1.2 million square feet of office space on what was a sluggish real estate market. To many in the real estate industry, the law was an example of a reasonable restriction. This was the time when the central business district began to appear as more-or-less synonymous with the downtown area. The phrase acknowledged the existence of business districts in the city. Real estate interests were concerned about the tendency of downtown to move because the downtown area had by far the highest land values in each city
6.
Carrefour
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Carrefour S. A. is a French multinational retailer headquartered in Boulogne Billancourt, France, in the Hauts-de-Seine Department near Paris. It is one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world, Carrefour operates in more than 30 countries, in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. Carrefour means crossroads and public square in French, the company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. The first Carrefour store opened on in 1960, within suburban Annecy near a crossroads, the Carrefour group was the first in Europe to open a hypermarket, a large supermarket and a department store under the same roof. They opened their first hypermarket on 15 June 1963 in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, in April 1976, Carrefour launched a private label Produits libres line of fifty foodstuffs, including oil, biscuits, milk, and pasta, sold in unbranded white packages at substantially lower prices. In 1999 it merged with Promodès, known as Continent, one of its competitors in the French market. In September 2009, Carrefour updated its logo, in April 2015, Brazilian businessman Abílio Diniz revealed he was in talks to raise his 5.07 percent stake in Carrefour and has the support of shareholders to take a board seat. The head office of the Groupe Carrefour is in Boulogne Billancourt in the Paris metropolitan area, Carrefour leased space in the 9,257 square metres Gecina building at 36 avenue Émile Zola effective 1 December 2010. The complex has 208 parking spaces and has an aluminium facade, E. Naud and L. Poulx designed the building. The chains Carrefour Hypermarket division has its office in Courcouronnes, Essonne, France. Armenia Carrefour opened its first hypermarket in Armenia at Yerevan Mall on 11 March 2015, Bahrain Carrefour has also opened a franchise owned branch in the Bahrain City Centre in 2008. It was the leading retailer in terms of sales figures. A selection of Carrefour products are sold in Hong Kong via Wellcome, Kazakhstan Carrefour opened its first hypermarket in Almaty on February 11,2016. So far it is the one in Kazakhstan. India Carrefour operates cash and carry stores in India under the name Carrefour Wholesale Cash&Carry, the first store opened on 30 December 2010 in Shahdara, Delhi. This was followed by a store in Jaipur in late 2011 and one in Meerut in October 2012, prior to September 2012, Indias foreign direct investment policy did not allow foreign companies to open multi-brand retail stores in the country. However, 100% FDI in cash-and-carry has been permitted since 1997, as a result, most global retailers, including Carrefour, opted for the cash-and-carry route in India. A new FDI policy, allowing up to 51% FDI in multi-brand retail, on 8 July 2014, Carrefour announced that it will shut down its Indian operations and close its five wholesale stores by the end of September
7.
McDonald's
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McDonalds is an American hamburger and fast food restaurant chain. It was founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard. In 1948, they reorganized their business as a hamburger stand, the first McDonalds franchise using the arches logo opened in Phoenix, Arizona in 1953. Businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as an agent in 1955. Based in Oak Brook, Illinois, McDonalds confirmed plans to move its headquarters to Chicago by early 2018. Today, McDonalds is one of the worlds largest restaurant chains, McDonalds primarily sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken products, french fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes, wraps, and desserts. In response to changing tastes, the company has expanded its menu to include salads, fish, wraps, smoothies. A McDonalds restaurant is operated by either a franchisee, an affiliate, the McDonalds Corporation revenues come from the rent, royalties, and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. According to a BBC report published in 2012, McDonalds is the second largest private employer,1.5 million of whom work for franchises. The business began in 1940, with a restaurant opened by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald at 1398 North E Street at West 14th Street in San Bernardino, the first McDonalds with the arches opened in Phoenix, Arizona in March 1953. The original mascot of McDonalds was a man with a hat on top of a hamburger-shaped head whose name was Speedee. In 1962, the Golden Arches replaced Speedee as the company symbol, a new mascot, Ronald McDonald was introduced in 1965. The clown-like man having puffed out costume legs served advertising aimed at children. On May 4,1961, McDonalds first filed for a U. S. trademark on the name McDonalds with the description Drive-In Restaurant Services, on September 13,1961, the company filed for a trademark on a new logo—an overlapping, double-arched M symbol. By September 6,1962, this M-symbol was temporarily disfavored, although the Golden Arches logo appeared in various forms, the present version as a letter M did not appear until November 18,1968, when the company applied for a U. S. trademark. Kroc later purchased the McDonald brothers equity in the company and led its expansion. Kroc was also noted for aggressive business practices, compelling the McDonald brothers to leave the fast-food industry, Kroc and the McDonald brothers feuded over control of the business, as documented in Krocs autobiography. The San Bernardino restaurant was demolished in 1976 and the site was sold to the Juan Pollo restaurant chain and this area now serves as headquarters for the Juan Pollo chain, as well as a McDonalds and Route 66 museum
8.
Parc du Mugel
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The Parc du Mugel is a municipal park and botanical garden in the town of La Ciotat, in the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône, on the Mediterranean coast of France between Marseille and Toulon. It is listed among the Notable Gardens of France by the French Ministry of Culture, in 1805 the park was divided into three properties, which were joined in 1870. In 1923 the land was purchased by Marseille coal merchant Louis Fouquet, in 1941 the one of the buildings on the site was converted into a youth hostel. Among other notable guests was Dr S. Goldschlager and his wife Sala, in 1947 the house and park was bought by the Bonzo family, who sold thirteen hectares in 1952 to the town of La Ciotat. The town eventually bought the property, and, in 1982. The park, twelve hectares in size, is located on the edge of the calanque of La Ciotat, an inlet of the Mediterranean. The park is watered by small reservoirs, which capture the rain running off the rock. The tropical garden contains thirty different species of trees, as well as mimosa, bougainvillia, bamboo, banana. It also features a garden of aromatic plants, a garden of lavander is planted just below the main house. The nature preserve covers the hillside between the tropical garden and the Bec DAigle. It is composed of native oak trees, and the traditional brush landscape. List of botanical gardens in France Official brochure on the Parc du Mugel, published by the City of La Ciotat Site of the Committee of Parks and Gardens of France
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Bridgwater, Somerset, England – since 1957[7][8]
Kranj, Slovenia – since 1958
Singen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany – since 1958
Torre Annunziata, Italy – since 2006
