Frenchstats

Here are a few curious statistics and figures concerning France and the French, to glance at while you drink your coffee.

35 -- number of hours per week the French work. It's legally possible for an employee to work more, but employers are required to pay a fairly high overtime wage.

18-33% -- typical rate of TVA, which, as far as consumers are concerned, is the French equivalent of sales tax.

50% -- proportion of the world's Francophones who live in Africa.

20 -- number of arrondisements, or districts, in Paris, which arranged like an escargot.

1012 -- Length, in kilometers, of the Loire, the longest valley in France.

10 -- minimum number of successive governments in France since the fall of the monarchy in 1789 (a few, such as the 1st Republic, could arguably be further subdivided). In chronological order: 1st Republic (1792-1804); 1st Empire (1804-1814); Bourbon Restoration (1814-1830); Louis-Philippe (1830-1848); 2nd Republic (1848-1852); 2nd Empire (1852-1870); 3rd Republic (1870-1940); Vichy (1940-1944); 4th Republic (1946-1958); 5th Republic (1958- ).

"Inestimable" -- Value assigned to La Joconde, aka the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa is so valuable, that the Louvre has not bought insurance to cover it: not only would such insurance be exorbitantly expensive, but by French law, the owner of a piece of art owes a 10% commission to the assessor. To this day, no formal assessment has been made of the Mona Lisa, perhaps the most famous painting in the world.

.30 -- Mode cost of a public toilet, in Euros, in France.

45 -- Approximate number of chateaux in the Loire Valley.

Tomorrow, two more chateaux. Then, Paris!

~JD

"Nous volons au passage un plaisir clandestin/ Que nous pressons bien fort comme une vieille orange" [We steal from this journey a clandestine pleasure/ which we squeeze very hard, like an old orange] ~ Beaudelaire, Au lectuer.