France

France has been a center of culture, fashion, and art for centuries. Any trip to France must start in Paris, the capital and largest city of France. Reisen Frankreich mit Sehenswürdigkeiten and start at the Louvre. The Louvre is the largest museum in the world, and located in Paris. The museum houses more than 400,000 items, of which 35,000 are on display. The museum contains works of art in the following collections: Oriental antiquities, Egyptian antiquities, Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities, Islamic art, sculpture, paintings, objets d'art, and graphic arts. The museum also contains one of the most famous art works in the world, The Mona Lisa. Possibly the most famous landmark of Paris is The Cathedral of Notre-Dame, located on the Ile de la Cite in Paris. Notre-Dame was built in 1160 by Maurice de Sully, and took almost 200 years to complete.

The cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic archetecture. Along with its man-made wonders, France also contains much natural splendour. The Aven-Armand Cave is an amazing cavern that was discovered by Louis Armand in 1897. The cavern is situated on the Causse Mejean outside the small village of Lozere. The cave is 110 meters long, 60 meters wide, and 45 meters high. It contains a forest of stalagmites called The Virgin Forest; some of the stalagmites are more than 1 meter high. Because of the lighting in the cave, the stalagmites sparkle like diamonds and sometimes create strange shapes.

Another natural wonder in France is Les Gorges du Verdon. The gorge is the largest in Europe, and is found in the Haut-Var region of Provence. The top of the walls of the gorge can reach a height of up to 1500 meters, and the gorge is sometimes referred to as "the Grand Canyon of Europe." The gorge affords the visitor spectacular views of the surrounding Parc Natural Regional du Verdon.