There are many reasons 50, 000 Germans live in Silicon Valley, and 500 startups in the San Francisco Bay area have French founders, says The Economist.

FORBES: Why The Next Apple, FedEx Or McDonald's Won't Come Out Of Europe

Lee is acutely aware of the Bay Area's two-pronged French culinary heritage the precise, technique-heavy strain epitomized by Keller in Napa Valley and the more hands-off, ingredient-based school of Waters in Berkeley.

WSJ: San Francisco: Culinary Capital

In 1535, a French explorer, Jacques Cartier, arrived in St Lawrence Bay.

BBC: Qu��bec's wood runners

Set on a spectacular 18-acre hilltop site with panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay, this classical estate inspired by 18th-century French chateaux is organized around a central entry court enclosing a formal entrance on three sides.

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But, for another other camp, involving Europe's left (and more or less the entire French political class), the point of Europe is to keep globalisation at bay, or at least curb its power.

ECONOMIST: The future of Europe

In 1759, in the battle of Quiberon Bay during the Seven Years War, the British fleet commanded by Admiral Hawke destroyed the French invasion fleet under Admiral Conflans.

CNN: Wednesday,