My theme – “26 Things I’d Like To See During Our Trip To France”
U is for “UNESCO”
What is this? Qu’est-ce que c’est ?
UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (French: Organisation des Nations unies pour l’éducation, la science et la culture). This organization, which is a part of the U.N. does many things, but part of what it stands for is preserving World Heritage Sites. According to their website, there are 981 such sites, which are considered to have “outstanding universal value.” 38 of them are in France or its territories. During our trip, we will clearly not have time to see all of these, but we will see some of them! The UNESCO headquarters just happens to be in Paris, and indeed, one can visit it as well. Awesome.
Where is it? Où est-ce?
They are scattered all over the country 🙂 This Wiki page has a great interactive map, and I recommend that you look at it if you are interested…I just spent more time than I actually have clicking on this silly map and reading about the sites. I haven’t even really spent any time in France yet and already I’m convinced that a second…third…forth…trip will be necessary in the future! And we haven’t explored all the other wonderful places in Europe yet, either! I think we’d better stay quite healthy if we are going to have time to see all the things we want to see! Guess we should have started traveling in our 20’s instead of in our 40s, but…we had neither the money nor the vision back then. Bummer, huh?
Why do I want to go there? Pourquoi est-ce que je veux y aller ?
Why? Well…because if UNESCO is going to all the trouble to preserve these places, then I think it’s worth my time to learn about them and see them if possible. I like to travel because I want to learn how other people and cultures live and have lived. I want to learn about how we are all different, yet all the same. I love to experience local foods, art, culture, history…so I think that these sites are not a bad place to start, n’est-ce pas? By the way, UNESCO offers a really cool world map for a tiny donation of about $3…I ordered one for myself. I think it’s going to look great in my “hobby room” in my house!
And you, dear A to Z-ers? Et vous ?
Which World Heritage Sites have you visited? Was it worth the trip? Est-ce que ça vaut le détour? Dites-moi !
Forty, c'est Fantastique ! 
Oooh, that sounds like a great place to visit.
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Another fascinating topic and travel destinations to explore. Thanks!
I agree – we have the physical strength/stsmina in our younger decades, but often not the vision or money to pursue travel dreams. By the time we define our desires and have money to travel, we start to lose physical stamina or health issues come into play. So many places …..
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yep, well…we just do what we can, right?
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Next time I go to Paris I’ll have to use one of those geeky segways you’ll see tooling around. I have so many cumulative sports injuries I don’t think I can trek the miles of arrondissements anymore, and cabbing or metro just isn’t the same street flavor. Wait! I could rent a bike!
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You know, I tried out a segway once at the big mall in Edmonton (Alberta). It was totally fun! So…pourquoi pas? 🙂
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Zap me a photo of you circling La Place de la Concorde 🙂
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Great choice for ‘U’. UNESCO is doing a great job. I have been to a few UNSECO World Heritage sites and wish I could visit some more. Sigh…
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If only there were enough time! Thanks for visiting 🙂
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