Did you know?

April Fool's Day is believed to have originated in France, in 1564, when the country started following the Gregorian Calendar. Those that did not know about the switch in the calendars, were mocked on this day as they continued to believe that 1st April was the first day of the French new year.

Every summer more than 100 professional cyclists race in the Tour de France. The race is approximately 2,000 miles long. The race lasts up to three weeks. It is held in July. The route changes from year to year.
 
On July 14 Bastille Day is celebrated in France. It was set aside in 1880 as a French national holiday. The holiday is celebrated with speeches, firecrackers, and parades.
 
The name France means 'Land of the Franks.' The Franks were a Germanic tribe who lived in Northern Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire.
 
The flag of France is blue, white, red. It is known as Le Drapeau Tricolore (or the three-coloured flag) because of its three colours. It has existed since 1794.
 
The French national anthem is called La Marseillaise. It was composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in 1792. It is called La Marseillaise because it was first sung by soldiers from the city of Marseille as they marched into Paris.
 
The guillotine remained the official method of execution in France until 1981 when the death penalty was abolished. The last time it was used was as recently as 1977.
 
Denim is a fabric that came originally from the French town of Nîmes (de Nîmes).
 
The Canal du Midi is Europe's oldest functional canal. It was built from 1666 and 1681. It is 240 km (150 miles) long, has 63 locks, 126 bridges, 55 aqueducts, 7 canal-bridges, 6 barrages and 1 tunnel.
 
There are some 40,000 châteaux (castles, manors, palaces...) in France.
 
Though traditionally there are around 350 to 400 varieties of French cheese, there are in fact over 1000 different types available in the French market.
 
More tourists visit France each year than any other country in the world, with 67 million annual tourist arrivals (more than the country's population).
 
There are 450 different wine appellations in France. There are tens of thousands of small wine-producing domains, but only 15% of all French wines enjoy the marketing benefits of AOC designations.