Cannes Between Festivals and major events, Cannes lives to the beat of the arts year around, thanks to the many organizations contributing to its reputation and teaching. Cannes Municipal Music and Drama Conservatoire promote the awakening and introduction to music since the age of three years old for viola, violin and cello students and since five years old for those registered to musical awakening.

Cannes Between Festivals and major events, Cannes lives to the beat of the arts year around, thanks to the many organizations contributing to its reputation and teaching. Cannes Municipal Music and Drama Conservatoire promote the awakening and introduction to music since the age of three years old for viola, violin and cello students and since five years old for those registered to musical awakening.

Lyon As early as the 13th century, residents of the region spoke a dialect of the Franco-Provenal language. This Lyonnais dialect was replaced by the French language as the importance of the city grew. Lyon was an early center for printing books, and nurtured a circle of 16th century poets. For several centuries Lyon and its bouchons have been known as the capital of gastronomy, fine handweaving, and the silk trade. The Lumire brothers invented cinema in the town in 1895. December 8 each year is marked by "la Fte des lumires" (the Festival of Lights), a celebration of thanks to the Virgin Mary, who purportedly saved the city from a deadly plague in the Middle Ages. During the event, the local population places candles in their windows and the city of Lyon organizes and projects impressive large-scale light shows onto the sides of important Lyonnais monuments, such as the mediaeval Cathdral St-Jean.

Marseille Marseille was founded in 600 B.C. by Greeks from Phocaea as a trading port under the name Μασσαλία (Massalia; see also List of traditional Greek place names). Facing an opposing alliance of the Etruscans, Carthage and the Celts, the Greek colony allied itself with the expanding Roman Republic for protection. The association with the expanding Roman market saw the city thrive by acting as a link between the interior of Gaul, hungry for Roman goods and wine (of which Massilia was steadily exporting by 500 B.C.), and Rome's insatiable slave markets. Under this arrangement the city maintained its independence until the rise of Julius Caesar, when it joined the losing side in civil war, and lost its independence. It was the site of a siege and naval battle. During the Roman times, it was called Massilia.

Nice Nice has a distinct culture due to its unique history. The local language Niard (Nissart) is an Occitan one, still spoken by a minority and there as well as Occitan. Strong Italian and (less) Corsican influences make it less unintelligible than other non-extinct Provenal dialects that exist around. Local food culture, which includes pissaladire, a pie with onions and anchovies paste; socca, a kind of pancake made from chickpea flour; bouillabaisse and fish soup; "Stockfish" (traditionally prounounced as "Stoquefiche" (French spelling) with special emphasis on the first "e"), farcis, vegetables stuffed with breadcrumbs; and salade nioise, a tomato salad with green peppers of the "Corne" breed, baked eggs, tuna or anchovies, and olives.

Paris Three of the most famous Parisian landmarks are the twelfth century cathedral Notre Dame de Paris on the le de la Cit, the nineteenth century Eiffel Tower, and the Napoleonic Arc de Triomphe. The Eiffel Tower was a "temporary" construction by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 Universal Exposition but the tower was never dismantled and is now an enduring symbol of Paris. It is visible from many parts of the city as are the Tour Montparnasse skyscraper and the Basilica of the Sacr Cur on the Montmartre hill. The Historical axis is a line of monuments, buildings and thoroughfares that run in a roughly straight line from the city centre westwards: the line of monuments begins with the Louvre and continues through the Tuileries Gardens, the Champs-Elyses and the Arc de Triomphe centred in the Place de l'toile circus. From the 1960's line was prolonged even further west to the La Dfense business district dominated by square-shaped triumphal Grande Arche of its own; this area hosts most of Paris' tallest skyscrapers.

Toulouse Toulouse was the capital of the former province of Languedoc (provinces were abolished during the French Revolution). It is the capital of the Midi-Pyrnes rgion, the largest rgion in metropolitan France although it encompasses only half of the former Languedoc province. It is also the prfecture (capital) of the Haute-Garonne dpartement. It is the seat of the Acadmie des Jeux Floraux, the equivalent of the French Academy for the Occitan-speaking regions of southern France, making Toulouse the unofficial capital of Occitan culture. The traditional Occitan cross was adopted as the symbol of both the City of Toulouse and the newly-founded Midi-Pyrnes rgion.