Looking for your next vacation spot? The Château d’Urtubie, a stunning castle that dates back to the fourteenth century, is now a hotel in the heart of the Basque Country.

Say you’re writing a poem in French, and you need to know how to compare your love to a beautiful sunny summer day. Unsure of the vocabulary? Listen to this weather report from local station Alsace 20 (covering the Alsace region of France) to pick up some useful weather lingo.

Who says that old people don’t know how to party? This event, organized by a local Lions Club, brought together a number of senior citizens for a day of dancing, schmoozing, and even romance.

Are you afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Then you better avoid the rue de la Brèche aux Loups (“Wolves’ Breach Street”) in Paris’ 12th arrondissement. Well, maybe not. But if you’re interested in how oddly named streets got their names, this video is sure to please!

Sakado (a play on sac à dos, “backpack”) is an organization that helps the homeless of France by collecting backpacks filled with all of life’s essentials, from hygienic products to books. As this article reports, homelessness is one of France’s biggest domestic problems.

You might already know that the euro looks slightly different from country to country. But France has also released a series of limited edition euro coins for each of its twenty-six regions. Remember when collecting state quarters was all the rage? Now you can move on to regional French euros!

If you happen to be a Capricorn, you should hear what astrologist François Lambert says the stars have in store for you in 2011. Otherwise, no matter what your sign, we foresee a mastery of the French language in your future!

A cemetery might not top your list of places to visit in a city. But actually, cemeteries are a treasure trove of information on a city’s history and architectural taste. The cemetery in Roubaix is particularly rich, with Gothic and art deco tombs side by side.

Attention all Scorpios: according to François Lambert, the year 2011 will present many challenges to your love life. But don’t worry––learning French will just keep getting easier and easier!

In the wake of a deadly terrorist attack on a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt on New Year’s Day, many Coptic Christians are worried about celebrating Christmas (observed on January 6) as openly as they would like. Here is how a gorgeous Coptic church in Marseille is handling the situation.

The Toxic Avenger is a French house artist based in Strasbourg. In this video, he teams up with Orelsan to bring Facebook to life.

Even an economic crisis can’t put a dent in luxury car sales. Looks like when you’re willing to wait that long for your dream, and able to pay for it, nothing can get in your way.

The town of Nîmes goes all out for Christmas, with thousands of lights and giant candy canes all along the streets. It might just be the most festive city in France!

Mont Blanc is not only the highest mountain in the Alps, but also in all of Europe. This weather report will give you an idea of what a typical October feels like in the area surrounding this giant: chilly but fairly sunny, with the first hints of snow.

Georges Laraque, one of the most renowned hockey players in the NHL, tells us about an innovative project: vertical farming, whose technology will limit the use of natural resources needed to grow plants.

The rue de la Roquette, in Paris’s 11th arrondissement, is so named because it is either full of weapons or full of lettuce – or neither! Find out the history behind this ancient street and learn the various meanings of the word roquette in this video.

A vide-grenier (“empty-attic”) is a combination of a flea market and a yard sale: a place where anyone can rent a booth and sell all the old things they don’t need anymore. Come see what the residents of this Parisian neighborhood are selling!

Good news for lovers of luxury footwear—but even more so for the work force of the French town Romans: the factory of designer brand Charles Jourdan will reopen its doors (after being forced to close several months prior) thanks to an investment from a Costa Rican firm.

Ariel Dorfman’s play Death and the Maiden is no light fare, detailing the horrors of both violence and military dictatorship. It is partly based on Schubert’s famous string quartet of the same name.

What do Charles Baudelaire, Simone de Beauvoir, and the architect of the Statue of Liberty have in common? They are all buried in the Montparnasse cemetery, home to the graves of some of the greatest figures in French history. Here are some of its other famous souls.

Nowadays, even monks need to make a living. These five pious men, from the parish of Mesnil-Saint-Loup, make theirs by selling beautiful handmade pottery and ceramics for anywhere between five and two-hundred euros. They even maintain a website.

Does your textbook ever seem more confusing than enlightening, more wrong than right? A recent study showed that some French textbooks could use a little fact-checking.

As in the United States, the price of organic products is relatively high in France. But hopefully this will not be the case for too much longer, as the French Minister of Agriculture has just pledged an investment of six million euros in the organic sector. Learn more about the state of organic farming in France in this video.

The first electric car? 1899! La Jamais contente. This car and other rare self-propelled antique vehicles can now be seen in car museums.