France Travel News 07/08/2010

If you're a visual person like me, you'll love this French Vocab guide – just mouse over the pictures, and a lovely French woman pronounces the word and the word itself pops up in a small window. Confession: I use this a lot.

A court case scandal involving the world’s third-richest woman and her daughter now threatens to engulf France’s highest elected official, President Nicolas Sarkozy. Allegations of corruption – as the president's approval ratings slide to a low of 26 percent – come on top of a string of other problems for Sarkozy.

The former Panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega was convicted Wednesday of money laundering and sentenced by a French judge to seven years in prison. Mr. Noriega, 76, was found guilty by the 11th chamber of the Tribunal Correctionnel de Paris, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said. The tribunal also ordered Mr. Noriega to forfeit about $2.9 million that had been frozen in his French bank accounts.

Discover France Adventures is offering a series of tours that follow the same route as the Tour de France, giving exclusive on-site access to the world's top cycling luminaries along the way.

Normally I don't link to businesses, and I usually avoid Etsy like the plague. But this girl is finding gorgeous little treasures and shipping from France, so if you can't get there you can bring a bit of it to you! Her items make me excited to write about the fabulousness that are French flea markets. Stay tuned!

Good God, I hope not. it's more fun to visit France and discover your favorite wines just a few miles from where the grapes were grown.

With 13 years of French under her belt, Anne Rosenblum, a sophomore at Dartmouth College, had long dreamed of studying abroad to achieve true fluency. For a “quintessential and authentic French experience,’’ she chose a Paris-based program. Possibly best lesson learned? "The phrase ‘I’m full’ happens to not translate easily into French. The literal translation, ‘je suis plein,’ implies that you are pregnant."

Mick Jagger is the main attraction at the 41st annual Rencontres d'Arles photography festival in the south of France, with organisers hoping that he will put in a personal appearance. The 66-year-old Rolling Stones frontman is the subject of about 70 portraits on display in Arles by the likes of Cecil Beaton, Anton Corbijn, Annie Leibovitz and Peter Lindbergh, tracing his life from the 1960s until today.

Lance Armstrong is going to participate in the Tour de France one more time, and Alberto Contador, who has won the race twice, is the man he will have to beat. The two competitors are former teammates, and their rivalry will be a big deal during the race. The 3-week cycling marathon is from Saturday, July 3rd to Sunday, July 25th, 2010. Look for lots of WhyGo France updates on where to catch the action!

Children's author Michael Morpurgo chooses France, naturally! ""Ideally, I'd like a farmhouse, or mas, as they call them, in the Lubéron, where I know the forests and hills, and where the food is wonderful. There would be views from the window of the house and a nearby village into which I could walk; I’d want to have a local life, with a bar where I could have a cup of coffee and read Le Monde." Doesn't that sound delightful?