VIDEOS : From France to Chicago

FRANCE (Fodor’s Video Guide, 90 minutes, 1992).

Fodor provides a compact package for the traveler planning a trip to France. The 75-minute travelogue segment of this video blends history, art and architecture with fashion, wine country and chateaus. An additional 15-minute segment imparts useful travel tips, and a separate traveler’s handbook includes an index with maps and information on lodging, dining, the arts, money and language.

The tour begins in Paris. Sites include the art colony of Montmartre, the fashion emporiums of the Avenue Montaigne, Pompidou Centre and the Eiffel Tower, plus night life and Versailles.

Viewers tour the chateau country of the Loire Valley and the Chateau du Lude. In the alpine region, the film visits impressive Mont Blanc and the mountain-climbing area of Chamonix. Perfume and flowers are the main attractions on stops in Grasse, Nice and other resort areas along the Cote d’Azur.

In southern France, see French-style bullfighting in La Camargue, the high-tech center of Toulouse, the walled city of Aigues-Mortes, the Pont du Gard in Nimes, Van Gogh’s Arles, the Palace of Popes in Avignon and the holy city of Lourdes.

The video tours the Chateau Margaux winery in Bordeaux, and in Brittany visits the fishing village of Les Glenans, with a side trip to Mont-St.-Michel.

Final scenes include the magnificent Chartres Cathedral and a Bastille Day celebration in Paris.

Available from International Video Network, 2242 Camino Ramon, San Ramon, Calif. 94583, (800) 669-4486, Ext. 301; $29.95.

CHICAGO (International Video Network, Video Visits, 55 minutes, 1991).

This is a first-rate tour of the Windy City. From early photographs of the great fire of 1871 and the World Columbian Exposition of 1893 to panoramic views of today, viewers gain an appreciation of the city’s history and progress.

Besides taking in cultural attractions--Grant Park on Lake Michigan, the adjacent Field Museum, Adler Planetarium and Shedd Aquarium--the video shows the Loop and its architectural melange of Marshal Fields, the Civic Opera House, Sears Tower, Richard J. Daley Center, Federal Center Plaza and First National Plaza.

A journey along the Chicago River past the Marina City complex and over the Michigan Avenue Bridge leads to the elegant shops along the Magnificent Mile. Also seen are the historic Water Tower; a survivor of the fire, the Wrigley Building and the Chicago Tribune. Viewers visit the Lincoln Park Zoo, University of Chicago and Museum of Science and Industry.

Quick scenes of Chicago night life cover bars, discos, blues clubs and theaters, including the old Biograph Theater where John Dillinger was killed.

Tapes are available from International Video Network, 2242 Camino Ramon, San Ramon 94583, (800) 669-4486, Ext. 301; $24.95.