Pins matching France

A historic Parisian bistro serving French classics near the Hôtel de Ville.

During the 1867 Exposition Universelle, Paris opened Baron Haussmann's newly rebuilt sewer network to public tours for the first time, turning Eugène Belgrand's engineering into a civic showcase.

On 4 October 1883 the Express d'Orient, run by Wagons-Lits, began its through service from Paris to Constantinople, the start of the legendary Orient Express.

Gustave Eiffel’s engineering firm finished the Eiffel Tower in Paris after just over two years of construction, built as the entrance arch for the 1889 Exposition Universelle. The 300-metre iron lattice tower was the tallest man-made structure in the world at the time.

Marie and Pierre Curie announce radium to the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, five days after isolating it from pitchblende ore mined at Jachymov. It is the second element they identify that year, after polonium.

The Paris Métro's first line opened to the public on 19 July 1900, running between Porte Maillot and Porte de Vincennes.

Charles Lindbergh flew the Ryan NYP from Roosevelt Airfield on Long Island to Le Bourget in Paris, 3,600 miles in 33 hours and 30 minutes, the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight. It won him the $25,000 Orteig Prize.

France's SNCF pushed two modified electric locomotives to a then-world rail speed record of 331 km/h (206 mph) on a test track near Facture on March 28-29, 1955. An Infrastructural Game Changer cites the run as the moment fast trains overtook cars and planes.

The Citroën DS 19 was introduced at the Paris Motor Show on 6 October 1955; 743 orders came in the first 15 minutes, 12,000 on the first day and 80,000 deposits over the ten-day show.

The thin arch Malpasset Dam on the Reyran River collapsed on the night of 2 December 1959 after weeks of rain, flooding Fréjus on the French Riviera and killing 423 people.

The Anglo-French supersonic airliner, built by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation under a 1962 treaty, flew for the first time from Toulouse. Four Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 turbojets drove an ogival delta wing carrying 92 to 128 passengers.

Airbus’ first aircraft and the world’s first twin-engine wide-body airliner flew from Toulouse–Blagnac a month ahead of schedule, for one hour and 25 minutes, with Max Fischl as captain and Bernard Ziegler as first officer.

Alain Passard bought the rue de Varenne dining room where he had once cooked as a young chef from its owner Alain Senderens in 1986, and reopened it under his own sign as Arpège - a musical name, from a family of musicians. He later did something close to unthinkable for a three-star French kitchen and took red meat off the menu, rebuilding the cooking around vegetables from his own gardens.

Alain Passard’s vegetable-focused cooking draws on produce from the restaurant’s gardens.

Built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France, the 68,870-ton Crystal Serenity was christened by Julie Andrews on 3 July 2003 and entered commercial service four days later.

Europe had its hottest summer since at least 1540, with night temperatures staying above 30C and eight consecutive days over 40C in Auxerre. The death toll has been estimated at more than 70,000.

Norman Foster's Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, opened over southern France's Tarn valley, completing the A75 motorway route between Paris and the Mediterranean.

F-WWOW, the first of the only full-length double-deck jet airliner ever built, flew from Toulouse–Blagnac with a crew of six under chief test pilot Jacques Rosay, who said handling it was "like handling a bicycle".

A specially configured TGV trainset, Project V150, reached 574.8 km/h on the LGV Est line near Le Chemin, France, the fastest a conventional wheeled train has ever run.

Norwegian Cruise Line took delivery of the 153,000-ton Norwegian Epic from the STX France shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, at the time the largest ship ever built there.

Bertrand Grébaut’s contemporary French cooking in a relaxed Charonne dining room.

Oscar-winning actress Sophia Loren christened the 139,000-tonne MSC Divina in Marseille a week after her delivery. Built for $550 million at STX France's Saint-Nazaire shipyard, she became the third ship in MSC Cruises' Fantasia class.

DCNS handed over the Aquitaine, the lead ship of France's FREMM-class multi-mission frigates, to the French Navy. The 142-meter, 6,000-tonne frigate was built at DCNS's Lorient shipyard.

Originally expected to be released as a launch title on the next-gen Microsoft and Sony consoles before Christmas but was delayed until this spring so the developers could "polish and fine tune every detail"