Rouen: The impressively huge cathedral holds the remains of Richard the Lion Heart of England and Robin Hood fame. It is also the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, and there is a museum devoted to her.

St. Denis: This Paris northern suburb has the first of the "new" Gothic style cathedrals built.  It is the burial site of many of the kings and queens of France. The Cathedral became the model for virtually all future Cathedrals built in Europe and England.

St. Malo: This walled city in Brittany is still a French vacation playground. It was severely damaged in World War II, but rebuilt in the old style. Jacques Cartier who "discovered" the St. Lawrence River and Quebec was a native son, as was the French author, Chateaubriand. St Malo also was the home base of the Corsairs--French pirates who preyed on British shipping.

Ste. Mere Eglise: This town was the first French town liberated.  It was the location of the invasion by American paratroopers on D-Day eve. One young American paratrooper became snagged on the steeple of the church, one of the many true incidents depicted in the movie, "The Longest Day". The American Airborne museum devoted to D-Day and the American liberators is located in this town.

Strasbourg: This Alsation city, once a Roman outpost on the Rhine, has bounced back and forth between German and French control throughout much of its later history.  A revolution by the guilds against control of Roman Catholic Bishops in 1332 resulted in its becoming a free city in control of its trade and coinage.  Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the moveable type printing press, spent 10 years of his life in Strasbourg developing his invention, and the city became the first site, outside of Mainz, Gutenberg's home city, where the press was successfully used in commercial application. 

Toulouse: This large industrial town was once the home of the Count of Toulouse who was a Cathar and therefore a heretic. In later times, it was famous for its blue dye, called pastel. The Jacobin church, which was once part of an abbey, holds the remains of St. Thomas Aquinas.