Le Petit Monde

It's January. Paris is around 40-some degrees Fahrenheit and rainy. Tourists aren't flocking there. In fact, my guess is that Europe-bound tourists use this time of year to research destinations, look up exchange rates, and put aside cash while dreaming of spring rendez-vous and tete a tetes.

What's a travel editor to do? I considered highlighting Aix-en-Provence this issue, but with the New Age-y Harmony and Light Gathering not taking place until August of 2000, I thought the cultural capital of Provence could at least wait until February.

So instead, this latest report turns tourist hibernation into an opportunity to explore news from France. In exploring the conflicts and hardships facing a faraway land with a distinctly different culture, we are acutely reminded that we are all citizens of a common planet. We all have problems. And actually, they're pretty much the same problems. From Y2K to agriculture, Disney's right. It's a petit monde, after all.

The International Herald Tribune and French News are two excellent sources of French news. Here is a brief look at some of the topics they have addressed recently.

Agriculture

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Pork producers are making news in France, but for the opposite reasons that they're being talked about in the U.S. In America, the quandary involves farmers getting next to nothing per pound, while consumers have been unable realize savings from a pork surplus at grocery stores. In France, however, the piggies who become Jambon de Bayonne (Bayonne ham) are finally getting their due respect. It seems that farmers all over the place were able to sell Bayonne ham, while Bayonne-area farmers obviously wanted the market to themselves. The farmers got their wish and are now planning to double production to meet the demand.

Free Cognac with Every Moet?
It seems that the supposed champagne-crisis-to-be is a myth. According to champagne producers, the predicted shortage of champagne for the world's millenium celebration won't happen: An estimated demand of 320 million bottles will be easily met by a 900-million-bottle supply, according to the champagne syndicat. French News reported that major houses predict increases in champagne prices of only 4 to 6 percent, compared with 10 to 15 percent hikes in vins du pays and vins du table.

Cognac producers aren't counting cash as furiously as their bubbly counterparts, however. Reportedly due to the weak Asian economies, cognac sales are down, so the French government and the EU are offering subsidies to cognac producers to convert to other wines or to get out of the business altogether. Meanwhile, 5,000,000 government francs are being spent on promoting cognac for the remaining producers.

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