whole of the south west corner of France, Aquitaine is the country's third largest region and takes in such well-known places as Gascony (dubbed France's answer to Tuscany), the Dordogne, Bearn, Basque Country and the western side of the Pyrenees. France is famous for many things, but the outstanding product of France is its wine. Aquitaine is at the centre of the wine industry of France and nowhere more so than in Bordeaux. Since the 18th century, the city of Bordeaux has assumed a majestic air and prided itself on an elegance that it has never lost. Rich in history, culture, arts, music, legendary wines and epicure, Bordeaux is not only the wine capital of the world, but also a vibrant center of trade, industry and business. Today the Bordeaux region produces over 44 million cases of wine per year. In this region the chateau is also the symbol of tradition and some chateaux welcome visitors for wine tasting as well as buying french property for sale. The Maison du Vin and the tourist office in Bordeaux offer information and tours.If you like to partake of the local cuisine of a country when vacationing then Aquitaine has rich and varied offerings. Try the local famous specialities of 'foie gras' (goose or duck liver pate) and truffles. Further south, the Bassin d'Arcachon is the only one of a series of ten lakes close to the coast that opens out to the Atlantic. It is also a centre for oyster farming. Lined with typical 14th century seaside villas and smavery important. A lot of businesses are closing because they forgot about the customer portion of their bottom line. They were so busy worried about the money, that they hurried through transactions. They pushed their employees to go faster and quicker until they lost a few of them. It wasn't important to smile and greet the customer. Instead of a smile, you may get a grunt of "Can I help you?" If these businesses thought that we, as customers, couldn't tell a real greeting from a fake one, they were sadly mistaken. We did notice the lack of personal attention we began to receive. We noticed that we were no longer people to them but a walking dollar sign that they needed to keep their doors open. We also noticed the lack of trained employees because they couldn't keep the good ones there long enough.Today's businesses who are weathering the economic storms know what the definition of personal attention is. They understand that if a customer sends an email with a question, it should be answered right away including weekends. The business owners understand that they may even have to take a call or two from a disgr