***Cath้drale Notre-Dame des Doms ***

Next to the Palais des Papes is located the Cath้drale Notre-Dame des Doms, this is a 19th century building and here are the rests of some of the popes that once lived in Avignon. At the top of the cathedral is a statue of the Virgin from the 19th century.

Gay & Lesbian in Paris

Paris as a modern city also has gay and lesbians between its inhabitants, the Marais neighborhood close to the City Hall seems to be the gay center in this city, there you will find a complete gay community, with bars, disco, caf้s , pubs, shops, hotels and you will also meet gay people from all around the world. The gay phenomenon has been recently opened so the energy is still very strong. But the Marais is not the only place where you can find gay people, there are all around Paris, and you'll identify a gay establishments by the rainbow flags that are displayed at the gay restaurants or any other place. you'll find some kind of gay-oriented business in virtually every neighborhood of the capital. Plenty of guides exist to help you choose your course. If you are a gay visitor you'll feel comfortable at every place, Paris has gay associations and the some time ago it was elected the first gay mayor, Bertrand Delanoe. There is a big and well known parade in Paris, the 24th of June is celebrated the Gay Pride Parade, many gays and lesbians get together for walking through the most important parisian avenues showing their sexual options without fear, this parade is also an atraction for this city, big part of the participants use to wear colourfull clothes and others with almost nothing of clothes.

Avignon Travel Guide

Avignon is also called the second Rome because of the arrival of the popes in the 14th Century during the Babylonian captivity, it also was the residence of several antipopes from 1378 to 1408. After a plebiscite it was incorporated to France in 1791. Avignon is a full history city, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Avignon is the capital of the Vaucluse d้partement, located in the Provence-Alpes-C๔te d'Azur region, with a population of aproximately 85,935 people. The name of this city comes from the Celts who called the area The Avenio that means the Town of violent Winds.

French Music

French music is a mixed of a variety of music styles, it has for example a bit of Latin America, Africa and Asia music, and is considered the center of music in Europe. Corsica and mountainous Auvergne are twoof the regions that conserve the folk and traditional french music, which used as principal instrument the piano accordion. Auvergne, Limousin, Morvan, Nivernais, Bourbonnais and Berry all of them form the Central part of France, and is there where the French bagpipe tradition and the hurdy gurdy are still alive. The bagpipe dates from seventeenth century having as representative musicians: Bernard Blanc, Fr้d้ric Paris and Philippe Prieur, and was developed in the regions of Auvergne and Berry. The hurdy gurdy comes to be a fusion between piano accordion and violin, and the result is a magnific melody, this first opera music style can be found also in Spain, Hungary and Russia. The southern part of France has also its own music, which is called trobamuffin, which is Occitan raggamuffin, and is played by the Massilia Sound System, a well known reggae group. French Opera is also well known, the may be Ak้bar roi du Mogol, having to Jean-Baptiste Lully as the best compositor of this style of music. Hector Berlioz was one of the greater and innovative compositors of the nineteenth century, him and Georges Bizet, Jules Massenet, Gabriel Faur้, Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy were the pionners whose revitalized french music. Nowadays, the most important innovative kind of music developed in France is that called "spectral music", which is very popular in Europe and in the Unithed States.

Bordeaux Travel Guide

Bordeaux is the capital of Gironde department with a population of 660,000 people, this is the largest cities in France and one of the largest in Europe, Bordeaux is an economic, comercial and industrial center, but its principal source is the wine trade, all the wine produced in the Bordelais region is known as Bordeaux wine. In the 5th century the city lost its importance but it was increased again when the city became the seat of the dukes of Aquitaine, the commercial activity also increased during this period.The intellectual reputation of Bordeaux was made by Montaigne and Montesquieu, who were born nearby and who were both magistrates in the city. In the 18th century Bordeaux begun exporting wine to England and the relation between these regions were better. The Third Republic was established in Bordeaux in the National Assembly in 1871. This city was the temporary seat of French Goverment during the World Wars.

Festival of Cannes

The Cannes Film Festival is a very prestigious film festival and was celebrated for the first time from september 20 to October 5 1946 in the coast city of Cannes, at the south part of France and takes place in the Palais des Festivals on promenade de la Croisette. Since then it has been celebrated every year with some exceptions. This Festival catchs the atention of all the media and receives the visit of important artists, Hollywood actors and directors as well as a large number of independent film makers. The prize given in this Festival is the very famous 'Palma de Oro' that is given by a very professional jury, sometimes the prize is shared by two movies. This film festival is as important as the Festivals of Berlํn, Venecia, San Sebastiแn, Mar del Plata or Karlovy Vary. There are other Festivals in Cannes as: « The International Actors’ Performance Festival.« Festival de la Plaisance, is celebrated in September and is all about boats.« Carnival on the Riveria, celebrated in February or March, is a parade through the streets across the city before the Shrove Tuesday.« The International Festival of Games, celebrated in February specially made for game lovers, with games such as bridge, belote, backgammon, chess, draughts and tarot-reading.

The city of Toulouse

Toulouse has a fascinating collection of monuments, building, palaces, churches, museums and other works of art, all of them are very visited attractions in tihs city for tourists, some examples are: the Capitol with the City Hall, the Basilica of Saint Sernin, the Archives Tower and the Hotel de Bernuy. Toulouse is also known as the ‘Ville Rose’ because of its pink buildings, the Capitole building forms the seat of local government, this building has paintings from the 19th century and the interior is simply amazing, and the Garonne River gives this city a splendid landscape, and the historic Canal du Midi, midway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, become this city in one of the main destinations in France. In addition to them there are more attractions in this city, you can take a tour and visit the northpart of the city, Arnaud-Bernard's is one of the attractions located there, a cosmopolitan area, many shopping centers and a very alive nightlife, at the south part is Les Carmes an old area near the Capitol, it's streets are old-fashioned but beautiful anyway, if you want to visit some antique shops, this area is perfect for you.