Rennes
Rennes is the capital of the French région of Brittany. It is the préfecture of the département of Ille-et-Vilaine. With a population of 212,494 (1999 census), it is the tenth most populous city in France. Population of the metropolitan area (in French: aire urbaine) at the 1999 census was 521,188, ranking twelfth in France.
The city has two main universities (l'Université de Rennes 1 and the Université de Rennes 2) and a large student population (around 60,000). It invests heavily in arts and culture and a number of its festivals (such as the music festival Les Transmusicales) are well known throughout France.
It has well developed national road, rail and air links and is two hours by TGV train from Paris. Local transport is based primarily on an extensive bus network and metro line that was inaugurated in March 2002. The metro line, called the VAL, which cost 500 million Euro to construct, is 9.4 km in length and includes one station designed by architect Norman Foster.
Local industries include car manufacturing and telecommunications. Citroën, presenty the largest employer of the population of Rennes, opened a manufacturing plant at Rennes La Janais in 1961 to manufacture the Ami.
