France (and Monaco) - Information.

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France

Strange Happenings: France!   No, seriously, "mugged" on RER train to Goussonville for five francs (roughly 60 pence).   Also took a river trip on the Seine (no, I'm not in-Seine...) and the last floating swimming pool on the river was pointed out.   The following day, it was reported in the news that the swimming pool had sank.

Travel Advice and Information: Prices tend to be high, especially near main attractions.   If eating or drinking in a café, try sitting inside as prices for sitting out on the street tend to be much higher.

Visit the obvious attractions by all means in Paris (Notre Dame Cathedral, Eiffel Tower, Arch de Triumph, Louvre etc.), but don't forget Fontainebleau, Versailles and for a fun day, Euro Disney.   Within Paris itself, Sacre Cur is well worth a visit.

As for Calais, don't just go for the hypermarkets.   There are some nice stretches of coastline to the west of Calais.   You can still see the German bunkers on top of the cliffs.

The resort city of Nice on the Mediterranean coastline is popular with foreign holidaymakers, including the sun loving British and a transit point between Italy and France for train loads of young Australian and New Zealand backpackers.   The Brits are reasonably well dressed resort lovers in comparison with the Aussies and New Zealanders, who pile into town looking as though they've never washed for months.   Nice is a good jump off point for Cannes and Monaco too.

Weather:   Temperate in north, Mediterranean in south, with areas like Nice being protected by the Alps from the worst of the winter weather.   In north, rain likely any time of year, small chance of snow in winter.   South has a drier summer with less rain.   Temperatures from around 5°C to mid-twenties in north, lower teens to thirties in south.   Alps and Pyrenees attract a lot of snow and are significantly colder (below freezing) during the winter.

Travel Companies: Every mainstream company (see 'Travel Links') offers something to France, especially to Paris (city of romance) and the southern coastal resorts.

Currency: Euro (Franc prior to 2002).   In the Calais Hypermarkets, the British pound may be accepted also.

Beer and Beverages: The main brands include Kronenbourg and the more expensive Stella Artois, with other beers available. The Alsace area in North East France produces a few other brands, but France is more famous for wine and champagne than anything else. I'm not sure, but there may also be a real ale brewery somewhere in Paris?!   In Nice, me and my mates automatically got served pints without us specifying - the French like their menus and waiter service and their small measures, whilst the tourists and ex-pats went to the bar for full pints.   There's a few English and Irish bars in Nice, making their money off the English tourists and the Aussie and New Zealand backpackers.

The backpackers can be a good laugh mind you and the younger ones tend to congregate in Wayne's Bar - as was evident by the 50 plus of them (mainly women) dancing on the table tops, when the live band started doing their stuff.   How they managed to squeeze what must have been 500 people in there, I'll never figure it out, but it was a good night all the same!

Language: The home of the French language, what do you expect!   A good many understand some English also.   German is understood by many in the Alsace region in the north east, along the banks of the Rhine.

Religion: Many in urban areas do not actively practice religion, though rural areas have a strong tradition of Roman Catholicism.   France also has the largest population of Moslems in Europe.

Monaco

Strange Happenings: The bizarre sight of an Italian sleeper train pulling into Monaco station, full of backpackers, who compared to the Monégasque (the locals) looked as though they didn't know what a bath was

I'm not implying Aussie or New Zealander here - I can't say anything, considering the mess I looked in 1998 compared to the other hotel guests after crawling into Katmandu in Nepal, a few hours after crossing the Nepal - Tibet border!   What comes with being on the road.

Monaco is immaculately clean and totally clear of graffiti and 'fives times a day' sounds more like the number of times they clean it.   But climbing out of a polished, unvandalised, shiny glass mirrored underpass, guess who managed to find a dirty staircase!   Monégasque standards slipping here?   They'd missed two steps.

Travel Advice and Information: Stay in Nice, where cheap hotel accommodation can be found, unless you are seriously rolling in money.   Monaco is stuffed with cash and you'll need to be if you want to stay here even one night.

Monaco, on the Mediterranean coast, is an independent principality surrounded on all three landward sides by the Alpes-Maritimes province of France.   It's been as such since 1297, when the ruling Grimaldi family (originally from Genoa in modern Italy) took possession.   Interruptions to this rule include the French Revolution in 1793, rule from Sardinia in 1815, after which it regained it's independence in 1861.   Monaco will become part of France if the Crown Prince dies without leaving behind a male heir.   There's four main areas in this tiny country (1.95 square km or 0.75 square miles), the best known parts being Monaco-Ville (the capital, containing the fortress and cathedral) and Monte Carlo (of casino fame).   The other parts are called La Condamine (the port) and Fontvieille.   Tourism and the Casino are worth a lot of money to this little country, with tourism accounting for a quarter of it's income.

Monaco's main attractions can be done in in less than a day - the fortress for the changing of the guard at 10.55 every day (get there early), the Cathedral (Princess Grace is interred there, with the other main members of the Grimaldi family), then walk east down to the marina, which is full of expensive yachts - there was a great big one with a helicopter on it when I was there.   On the north side of the marina is the finish line for the Monaco Grand Prix, held in May of each year - look for the swimming pool, which is roughly the area of the finish line.

Continuing east up the big hill, will take you up to the world famous Monte Carlo Casino   - for the record, I lost seven and a half Euros in the slot machines.   The actual tables require an entrance fee and it pays to be relatively smartly dressed to avoid being searched if you want to play on them.      A few other facts about the casino - firstly,  the citizens of Monaco aren't allowed to enter the gaming rooms, also, the Casino contains a theatre, ballet and opera house.   It's more than just a gambling den it seems.   For the real fact lovers amongst you, it's run under concession by the Société des Bains de Mer and has been so since 1898.   The concessions have been running since 1861 - don't know if this is when the casino came into existence or if it predates this.

Weather:   The Mediterranean climate means it has very warm summers and very mild winters.   Like Nice, it's protected from the worst of the Winter weather by the Alps.   Rain is most likely in Winter.

Travel Companies: If cruise ships are your thing, a good many of those doing the Mediterranean stop off at Monaco.   Apart from that, you can probably get tours starting from Nice, but extremely good bus and rail links mean you can do it on your own, as me and my mates did.

Currency: Euro (Franc prior to 2002).

Beer and Beverages: As with France, Kronenbourg and Stella Artois, plus a good number of import beers (seemingly all of the lager type).   Me and my mates were sussed out straight away as English and we got served pints of beer without us specifying.   Food is a right little mixture, with French and Italian restaurants everywhere and their obsession with pizzerias becomes pretty obvious once you've wandered around for a while.   I had to pinch myself - is this the only country in Europe without a MacDonald's?

Language: French is the official language, but the Monégasque themselves speak a language which is a mixture of French and Italian.   There's good numbers of English, American and Italian people living here too and you can bet they have lots of money - like I said, it's a haunt for the rich and famous.   Most people will get by with French or English.

Religion: 95% of church goers are Roman Catholic.