I have enjoyed several trips to France over a period of more than two decades. France is my favorite European country and I have spent time in a number of cities and regions, especially Paris and Aix-en-Provence as cities and Provence, the Côte d’Azur, the Alps, Auvergne, Languedoc, the Loire Valley, and Normandy as regions.

I love France because of its rich diversity and uniqueness of scenery, history, art, architecture, music, dance, theater, cuisine, and a number of great writers and philosophers. France is unique because it has been influenced by the Romans and the Gauls, and it bridges Northern and Southern Europe. I have always been intrigued by France and French culture.

I have selected some photographs which I have divided into six areas for this section of my site. My photos cover all seasons of the year. I have chosen some common sites and points of interest (especially in Normandy, Paris, and the chateau country) and some less commonly known subjects in most of these pages to educate and inform. For most of my captions with these photographs I have made very detailed descriptions in order to explain the subject’s full history or explain something unique which runs either counter to popular knowledge or is just informative (or, in my opinion, worth knowing) or relates to an important part of its history. Some of my captions may give too much detail, yet it was my intent to make this as informative as possible, especially to those who are not familiar with or have never visited France

I first went to France as a student and I spent an entire academic year as an undergraduate in Provence. When there was time for sightseeing, most of my days were spent visiting museums, monuments, chateaux, monasteries, and churches and cathedrals or hiking. Later trips were purely vacations and I have been only once in this century.

I hope for opportunities to return to France and especially to explore regions and cities where I have never been including Brittany, Burgundy, Champagne, Alsace-Lorraine, the Alps and Pyrénées, and cities such as Montpelier, Lyon, and Bordeaux.

I believe that the pride which most French feel about their history and culture is very well deserved. Here are some facts on the language, awards, sports, and tourism. As a language French was the first European language of a state. According to Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow, French is one of only two languages taught in every country of the world and is second to English in the number of countries where it is spoken in the world. It will always be a global language. As for athletic accomplishments, France ranks fourth of all countries in the world in the number of gold medals won in the summer Olympics (through 2004). France is one of only seven countries which have won the World Cup soccer tournament, yet it has won and been runner up just once. Also, it has won more Tour de France bicycling competitions than any country. As for Nobel Prizes through 2005, France leads the world in the number of Nobel Prizes for literature. It ranks third in the number of Nobel Peace Prizes. In the fields of physics and chemistry, France ranks fourth in the world in number of prizes won. As for film, France follows only Italy in the number of Best Foreign Language film Academy Awards won since the 1950s. As for tourism, France leads the world in the number of annual tourist entries and ranks third in the amount of annual tourist revenue.

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