Michelin-starred chef Philippe Gauvreau prepared lunch for the CNN team at his Lyon restaurant.

With such a rich history, France is one of the most visited countries in the world. But for CNN's new show iList, the team wanted to look at the future of France - how it's changing, evolving, innovating, developing.

We started the week in Marseille, the second largest city in France. This Mediterranean port is often featured in the news because of tensions between authorities and young people, predominately of North African descent. Recently, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding plans to erect a cathedral-like mosque in the city, (albeit featuring a blinking light to be used as a call to pray instead of the traditional vocal one.)

But when we spoke to a local imam, he told us that actually, what most Muslims in Marseille want is small, community-like mosques in neighborhoods, instead of a large one that's likely to draw negative attention.

In fact, it seems there is only one real religion in this diverse city, and that’s football. As Marseille-based Olympic player Gary Bocali told us, the first pair of pajamas you get as a child in this city are blue and white ones, the colors of the team. We also spoke to rising star Hatem Ben Arfa, who turned down the chance to play for his country of origin - Tunisia - in hopes of playing for France in the upcoming World Cup.

The hip hop music scene in Marseille is second only to that of Paris. It's famous worldwide because of groups such as IAM and Fonky Family. The DJ of the "FF" - as Fonky Family is known (by the cool kids!) - told us that in the poor neighborhoods of Marseille kids either turn to hip hop or football as a means to get out.

We also visited the legendary Savon De Marseille soap factory, which has been run by the same family for three generations. They explained to us how they’ve managed to make an old product attractive to a younger client.

Next up was Lyon - the gastronomic capital of France, a city with over one thousand restaurants. We interviewed Philippe Gauvreau, a two-star Michelin Chef. I have a ridiculous sweet tooth and although his lobster tagine was incredible, his desserts were even better. I was delighted when I found out we were going to be served a “pre-dessert” before the final dessert course.

Leaving Marseille for Lyon halfway through the week really gave us a perspective on both cities. I had the feeling I was in Switzerland when in Lyon - it is so clean compared to Marseille. But I felt Marseille better represented the real France. It’s interesting because although it is one of the oldest cities in France, Marseille is an example of the new France as well - a bridge between its past in North Africa and its future as the European Capital of Culture in 2013.

As French politician Renaud Muselier explained, Marseille is the link between European and Mediterranean cultures.

A woman walks through a Haitian shantytown.

They live on a blanket out in the open now, like hundreds of thousands of people in the ruined landscape of the Haitian capital.

Their home was destroyed by last week's earthquake, their meager food and money exhausted in the days since.

Jeanty isn't angry that no one has come forward to help him. He didn't expect it. He is mournful, desperate and nearly resigned.

"We live day-to-day, day-to-day. It's what you do in Haiti," he told me, as if the most powerful tremor in two centuries was only one of the setbacks he's suffered.

In a sense, he's right. Haiti is coping with an earthquake which lasted just moments but also poverty and dysfunctional government going back decades. American experts called it a "failed state" long before last Tuesday.

Jeanty has endured it all. He believes God will look after him. He's given up on everyone else.

Paris, France - Few were as excited as officials in France at the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States.

President Nicolas Sarkozy called the new president "my buddy" and tried urgently to be the first world leader to meet with him.

It never happened. What's more, after a year in office, France's honeymoon with Obama seems clearly over. First there were published reports that Sarkozy didn't think Obama knew his briefing books during the G-20 economic summit.

Then came widespread sniping along official corridors here that Obama was not measuring up when dealing with world leaders, like Russia's Dimitri Medvedev.

And then members of Sarkozy's government openly complained about how long it was taking Obama to make up his mind about Afghanistan.

So one year on, has President Obama, like his predecessor George W. Bush, lost France as an ally? And is the U.S. president unduly ignoring Europe to curry favor with larger world players like China and India?

We're going to be asking those and other questions during an hour and a half with U.S. Ambassador to France, Charles Rivkin, and three of France's most preeminent experts on the U.S., Secretary of State for European Affairs Pierre Lellouche, former French foreign minister Hubert Vedrine and the President of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee, Axel Poniatowski.

I will be one of the moderators for the conference/debate, in front of a live audience taking place Wednesday, January 20 at 0830 AM Paris time. If you would like to take part, post your questions to any of our panelists below and I will put them to the panel.

CNN Producer Niki Cook tweets from the debate

Egyptian-Gaza border - Looking across the border from Gaza to Egypt you see a few Egyptian guards keeping a low profile and staying largely out of sight.

The Hamas guards on this side of the border won't let us shoot video in case the camera is mistaken for a weapon.

Both sides are clearly doing all they can to prevent a repeat of Wednesday's cross-border violence that left one Egyptian dead and dozens of Palestinians injured.

Those clashes were caused by Palestinian frustration that an international aid convoy's entry to Gaza was delayed by being forced to enter through Israel rather than Egypt. The convoy has since been allowed in.

But frustration remains, as Egypt continues to build an underground wall along the border to stop the smuggling tunnels - a wall Hamas has dubbed the "wall of death."

Many tunnels were inactive Thursday after Israel dropped leaflets warning Gazans to steer clear of the border areas.

We found one still bringing in ceramic tiles because to stop work costs money. And tunnel operators are already nervous about their uncertain financial future.

The financial risk of goods not making it through the tunnels or being stopped by Egypt before they get to the tunnels is being passed onto the customer - and the average Gaza customer is already struggling.

A kilo of oranges that costs 25 cents in Egypt costs $1.50 by the time it reaches Gaza.

Mahmud abu Taha owns a confectionary stall and says his prices have risen 50 percent and his suppliers have already told him they'll be higher next time.

So no violence does not mean no bitterness.

Gazans express surprise their "brothers" in Egypt would cut off their tunnel lifeline and see them as being complicit with Israel in keeping its two-and-a-half-year-old blockade in place.

Gatwick Airport, England - The year was just a few hours old as bleary-eyed passengers turned up at Gatwick Airport near London, destined for all corners of the world. Battling fatigue and trying hard to overcome the excesses of the night before, folks, especially those traveling to the US, were bracing themselves for the security fallout from the attempted bomb attack in the U.S. on Christmas Day.

International travelers, such as these at Berlin’s Tegel Airport, face tightened security.

Check-in lines for the Delta flight to Atlanta were the same as ever - passport checks were carried out as we lined up and everything seemed completely normal.

At the check-in desk came the first clue that things were going to be a little different. A friendly young chap who checked me in told me to arrive at the gate early - like an hour-and-a-half before the flight was due to take off. That meant there was no time to devour a full English breakfast, which I was rather looking forward to, AND I couldn't do any shopping either - hardly a tragedy.

So off I plodded to Gate 50 at Gatwick's north terminal. It's 7.30am - the flight takes off at 9.15am. I walked for a few minutes and was quite surprised to see a line had already formed.

This was definitely different.

While I waited to go through the next layer of security, the line got longer and longer as the staff battled the backlog. From my experience, the Brits are good at standing in line - the Americans are not.

I listened eagerly for passengers complaining but heard nothing. Several people were discussing the Detroit attack - they all had their own theories about what needed to be done like full-body screening and better use of watch lists but nobody was complaining - as the line got longer and longer.

Tell iReport about your airline security experiences

Eventually I got to the front of the line. A few more security questions and a passport check before going off to be searched. Off came the shoes and the security guard took a close look at them - a brave guy.

Then came the patdown, my coat was searched and my briefcase given a good going over. It took about three minutes. The guy chatted a bit and noticed the headline in my newspaper about the introduction of body scanners at UK airports. "All very well having this stuff," he said, "but you can't beat a good pair of eyes and ears." Well said, if you ask me.

I waited about half-an-hour in a chair before it was time to board the aircraft. Some kids were starting to get bored and one poor lad really wanted to use the toilet. But the family had gone through security and in the gate area there are no toilets.

Airport managers need to take a look at this: being in a holding area for over an hour with no toilet facilities is not good, especially if you have young ones.

Off I went to the plane, but as I did my heart sank a bit when I saw how the line of people waiting to get through security was stretching way into the distance. Forty minutes to take off and at least 100 people in line. No way was this plane taking off on time. Bet this lot are the shoppers, I thought. Arriving late at a gate is not an option any more, guys.

People get these new security measures - yes it's inconvenient, yes the kids play up, yes there's very little shopping time but so what? If these great security guards, who dedicate their working days to protecting people like me need more of my time, then they are very welcome to it.

The last thing we need is for this really important job to be rushed. If they miss something to try to meet some daft deadline, god only knows what the consequences would be. So, as a New Year's resolution, let's all be a lot more patient when we fly and give these security folks every bit of help we can to keep the skies safe.

In the end I was right - the plane did take off late - an hour late actually. Still, there was no complaining, no tutting, no rolling of the eyes. And as for the flight itself, nothing was different. I even followed the flight map all the way to landing in Atlanta. Having said that, I didn't have much choice as the sound on every movie I tried to watch didn't work!

Happy traveling.

Mirissa, Sri Lanka - It is not hard to see what happened five years ago in southern and eastern Sri Lanka. About 34,000 people died in this small South Asian country. Wreckage of the tsunami is still apparent and in some places seems to have grown to be part of the landscape. Fishing boats dropped along roadsides still lay there, some now sprouting grass and plants. In the southern town of Mirissa, locals and tourists enjoy the beaches, barely noticing the partial hull of a fishing boat. 

A woman remembers victims of the 2004 tsunami with flowers and candles in Peraliya, Sri Lanka, on Saturday.

Here workers are busy building a monument not to the tsunami, but to soldiers of Sri Lanka's recent victory in the war with rebel Tamil Tigers.  Many Sri Lankans are too young to remember a time when their country wasn’t at war. The conclusion of more than 25 years of civil war, and decades of terrorist bombings around the country draws their focus now.

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa has called for an election two years before the conclusion of his term. Now that the war is over, Sri Lanka's economy needs attention: There is concern about Sri Lanka's economy and rising food prices.

In the years since the tsunami, the hordes of aid workers and well-meaning benefactors have drifted on leaving signs of renewal in some places and dried up expectations in others. Scatterings of foreign-built playgrounds, new schools and housing can be seen along the roadsides of southern and eastern Sri Lanka, the most tsunami devastated parts of the country.  Locals will say money is sorely needed for schools and the few apartment buildings are not liked by locals, since they were not used to living in such clusters.

In a village just outside Hikkaduwa, women wait for rides sitting on the remains of someone's kitchen counter.

This town was among the most devastated. Here a memorial shows an artist’s rendering of the horrifying aftermath when the deadly wave overturned a passing train, bodies strewn on the tracks and flung into trees. The train line still runs along the shore.

Go to the beaches in Yala on Sri Lanka's eastern shore and you will see a heartbreakingly beautiful beach.  

Stories abound about how the animals of Yala's National Park sensed the vibrations of the earthquake and ran inland before disaster struck.  On the beach here, is a memorial to the Japanese and German tourists and many locals who had no such warning.

Even though the mosque is several miles inland, it too was damaged by the tsunami waters. People clambered up the marble steps and clung to the white pillars, stretching out their arms to grab those swept up in the wave.

Banda Aceh's Grand Mosque was damaged by the Asian 2004 tsunami.

Today, the mosque has been restored and the courtyard, once clogged with mud and debris, is now a pleasant green park.

One of the striking details of the tsunami aftermath in Aceh was how the mosques survived when everything around them was destroyed.

Religion had always been important to devoutly Muslim Acehnese, but the tsunami highlighted Aceh's Islamic character even more.

Aid groups from all religions were offering help, including several fringe, radical Muslim groups, but also evangelical Christians and even Scientologists equipped with massage tables and "anti-stress therapies."

For the most part, Acehnese gladly accepted their help.

The mosque has now been restored to its former glory.

But after the tsunami, the imposition of Islamic shariah law gathered momentum, to the surprise of many Acehnese.

Today, in certain districts of Aceh, women follow a strict dress code. The tight jeans and t-shirts once fashionably worn with a brightly-colored headscarf are now illegal. Offenders are publicly lashed as punishment. Those found guilty of adultery can be stoned to death.

Not all Acehnese agree with this and one of the legacies of the tsunami is the tussling for political power among those who survived.

Most Acehnese are very friendly to foreigners and graciously received many aid workers without imposing Muslim dress on them.

But one man today, firmly insisted that I wear a Muslim headscarf, even though I was not in a religious area. In fact, the monument by one of the mass graves, was intended to cater to all religions. So, it surprised me.

But as he reminded me: "Aceh is different now"

Banda Aceh, Indonesia - I am sitting at one of Aceh's mass graves.  It lies on the road from the airport.  The day after the tsunami hit, this was one of the first things that CNN encountered.

Women attend a mass prayer for victims of the 2004 tsunami on Friday in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

Our cameraman, Neil Bennett filmed a bulldozer piling bodies atop each other into one giant pit. That night, as we sat together comparing notes on the destruction we saw, I remember former CNN Correspondent Mike Chinoy was visibly disturbed by what he had seen here.  "Like something out of the Holocaust", I remember him saying.

And it's true.  There were too many bodies. The mass graves buried those that could be collected. But so many more were still lying in the streets, sometimes wedged into the buildings that survived. Bodies broken and bloated.  And no matter where you went it reeked of death.

Today, the grass has grown over the gravesite.  There is a small monument with a plaque. A stylized wall in the shape of a giant wave looms over the site.

People trickle in to say prayers.  It is a simple thing. There don't bring flowers or wreaths or anything at all.  They just walk up to the site, bow their heads and turn their palms up to the sky in Muslim prayer.

There is no crying. It has been five years past, after all.  When they finish praying, they turn around and ride away on their motorcycles to continue their day.

On the day the tsunami struck, we rushed to the airport and boarded a flight for Aceh. 

Two young boys look at parts of the city previously devastated by the Asian 2004 tsunami.

The death toll at first was ridiculously small: 60 people, I remember the radio saying. But it climbed quickly. 60 became 600 became 6000 in the space of a few hours as news filtered in. 

We did not know then that it would climb past 200,000.

As we flew over North Sumatra, all the passengers craned their necks to look out the plane windows. I remember seeing coconut trees flattened like scattered toothpicks on the coast.  There were also patchworks of squares in pink, white and blue.  It took me a while to realize that used to be homes.  The walls and roof all swept out to sea.  All that was left was the tiled floor.

Today, there are rows and rows of newly built houses. Their bright red and blue roofs shine in the sun. From the plane, you can see they are positioned a fair distance from the beach, on the slopes of the nearby hills. 

When we arrived, the airport was in chaos. We were the first flight to land after the tsunami. People were trying desperately to leave Aceh.  The only people coming in were journalists and aid workers.

The airport's control tower had been damaged in the earthquake. So, a makeshift tower had been erected.

Today, the Banda Aceh International Airport is a bright, spic and span operation with a stand advertising Aceh's "first boutique hotel", The Pade. The brochure shows a picture of white hotel with graceful arches and an inviting pool that overlooks Aceh's lush hills.

They advertise "happy hour" and a tour agency that offers "tsunami tours"

Boutique hotel, indeed.

By complete coincidence, one of the first people we meet coming out of the airport is Faisal, one of the drivers we had flagged down when we first arrived after the tsunami.

We were so desperate to get into town, we just grabbed the first cars we could find, a sputtering space van and a battered flat-bed truck owned by Faisal and his brother.  Faisal became our driver for the rest of our coverage.

He still looks the same. Grinning from ear to ear and a fast-talking motormouth, still negotiating the price of his car.  He's moved house closer to the airport but says work as a driver is drying up now that aid workers are leaving.

About 15 minutes into our drive, Faisal's car starts filling up with smoke and we have to pull over.  Nothing some pliers can't fix, he says grinning.

Some things don't change.

I'm on my way to Aceh. The first time I've been back since 2005 in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami.

Two women stand alone on a beach in a region of Banda Aceh devastated by the tsunami.

I'm actually really looking forward to going back and seeing how much has changed. Has Aceh realized its dream of "building back better"? Did those devastated villages, swept out to sea, ever rebuild? What happened to the orphaned children and fractured families? Will they ever be able to recover from that emotional loss?

The world responded to Aceh's plight with an outpouring of generosity. Money and aid - some $7 billion - was rushed to Aceh. How effectively was it managed? And what have we learned in the process?

But this is also a very personal visit for me. The devastation of the tsunami was so complete, so horrific, I have never seen anything like it and I hope the world never sees anything like it again.

And yet, I remeber also being inexplicably hopeful, as we clambered over the wreckage of destroyed homes. We cried often. Every person we spoke to had lost family. It was not uncommon to speak to a child who was the sole survivor in his or her family.

But there was also a gritty determination underneath the grief. It was not enough to survive. People in Aceh seemed determined to show that they would not just recover, but manage to thrive in the aftermath.

I remember a music school teacher who was determined to get a piano for the few students that survived. And a village chief that had drawn up plans to rebuild his village days before aid workers had reached him.

But it was always the children that seemed the most resilient. At one camp, I remember kids drawing pictures of the wall of water that took so many of their mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters. But then they would turn and smile and tell you how they planned to become teachers and doctors as if nothing could really stop them.

I'm looking forward to seeing if those dreams have been realized.