In addition to housing the second largest port in the Paris region, Nogent-sur-Marne also includes a promenade dedicated to the "accordion queen" Yvette Horner and a square named after the famous Corsican singer Tino Rossi. The latter is located on the Marne River's "Île de Beauté" (Island of Beauty), which is also a nickname for Corsica.

We continue our walk around the little town of Liverdun, perched on a rock spur near the Moselle river. Françoise tells us about its collegiate church and the legend of Saint Euchaire.

Along the banks of the Marne, Daniel gives us some more insight into the town of Nogent-sur-Marne, including a few real estate tips and a brief biography of Jean Sablon, a famous crooner of French chansons who was born in the town.

This video on Nogent-sur-Marne focuses on the town's beautiful architectural heritage, from the Royal Palace Cinema, to the Art Nouveau houses, to the Coignard mansion and its gardens. Daniel concludes with a discussion of the song that made Nogent famous, "Le petit vin blanc" (The Little White Wine).

Where does Santa Claus come from? Santa's history begins in the third century in the city of Myra in Turkey, then to the Netherlands, then finally to America and back to Europe. But where Santa lives still remains a mystery...

Patricia takes a close look at some old French laws that are still on the books but no longer enforced. For example, it's technically forbidden to name one's pig "Napoleon."

The first of April is the day of hoaxes, pranks, and jokes. In France, the tradition is to hang paper fish on people's backs and shout, "Poisson d'avril!" (April Fish!).

Patricia has unearthed some very interesting, obscure French laws. For example: "Any woman wishing to dress like a man must request permission from the police department." Thankfully, no one obeys these antiquated laws!

In tribute to Uderzo's passing, we revisit the history of the famous comic strip Asterix and Obelix. In an old interview, Uderzo and Goscinny explain how they came up with Asterix in 1959.

In this video on Nice, Patricia explains the history of the city, its Italian heritage, and its typically French atmosphere.

Lionel is in the town of Grand, a Gallo-Roman city whose origin is puzzling, as there was no main source of water in the area.

The village of Liverdun has an interesting fountain with a huge underground reservoir that collects water from the nearby Moselle River. In the Middle Ages, people used the religious statues on the village's street corners to orient themselves.

Gérard tells us about the history of Antibes, from the time of Julius Caesar to the construction of the city walls and the Fort Carré.

We continue our visit to Liverdun with Lionel. The town features a lot of houses with gerbières, or hayloft windows, through which people would hoist sheaves of wheat.

In New Caledonia, the last French colony, two societies continue to coexist: the descendants of the white colonists known as "Caldoches," and the native Kanaks, whose numbers were decimated by the colonists beginning in 1853.

In 1988, New Caledonia was on the verge of a civil war as the native population, the Kanaks, rebelled against economic injustice and demanded their independence. A violent incident on the island of Ouvéa prompted the French government to intervene and even bring in a SWAT team. More violence ensued as negotiations failed.

New Caledonia is still part of France and has not gained its independence despite lenghthy negotiations between loyalists and separatists. Now that the Kanak population is a minority, independence seems unlikely. For more info on New Caledonia, check out these links: https://bit.ly/3cnZgzs, https://bit.ly/2EWfOBG, https://bit.ly/2SyqOrw.

Gérard explains the development of Antibes culminating in the creation of Sophia Antipolis, a kind of science park that changed the face of the city and created a traffic nightmare.

Nice's Jetée-Promenade is the site of a former casino by that name. Built on pilings over the sea, the original building was once a thriving casino attracting many tourists, especially British tourists who flocked to the Riviera.

In May 2000, Luc Vanrell discovered the P Thirty-Eight Lightning aircraft piloted by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, which was last seen on July 31, 1944. His colleague Philippe Castellano explains how the plane was identified.

In part 2 of this video on the disappearance of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, you will find out how the remains of his plane were located and retrieved from the bottom of the sea.

The Paris Commune was one of the first extensively photographed revolutionary movements. In its infancy, photography wasn't able to capture motion, but professionals from both sides understood the power of images and used them to convey their own visions of the events.

The first massively photographed insurrection, the Paris Commune, which began on March 18, 1871, revealed the extraordinary power of images, both close to reality and subtly manipulated.

At its peak, under Napoleon, the French territory was three times as large as it is today thanks to the emperor's very successful military campaigns. What was his secret?