Well it rains quite a bit in France so for dry weather you would have to choose the Mediterranean regions. However Mediterranean cities are the most populated, the least populated being in the northern zones (Brest in Brittany and Caen in Normandy have good air quality but are very damp). Aix-en-Provence is France's most polluted city. Toulon, Valence, Avignon, Marseille also rank poorly in terms of air quality. So I'm afraid you can't have both if you stay near a major southern city. You would need to find work in a smaller town. That being said all these are averages and around the same city you can live/work in a very or little polluted zone. Look around the western Mediterranean part (between Nîmes and Perpignan) but inland. I also love the Gard and Vaucluse départements in Provence. Even on the Riviera if you go a few miles inland you can get a large house for well under 300,000 €. I have no idea what you are looking for exactly. Here are sites which should give you an idea of the prices: http://en.century21.fr/trouver_logement/annonces_vente/ http://www.pap.fr/immobilier/?mode=recherche&produit=vente§ion=offre&lieu=france For a list of départements look at this map (the two-digit numbers refer to the names listed under the map): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Departments_of_France#Map_and_list_of_departments

1. Dishtip.com Though if I had to pick just one site to help with restaurant recommendations around the globe, it would be Chowhound, DishTip organizes the world of eating out in the United States a whole new way: By clam chowder. Or turkey sandwich. Or blueberry pie. In other words, by single dish, not by restaurant. The site sorts through reviews across the Web, figures out what has been raved about, aggregates its findings and spits out rankings of the best dishes in Denver or the pizzas in Portland or the fried food in Phoenix. 2. Skypicker.com Skypicker basically helps you figure out where you can fly within your budget. It’s sort of like the “explore” page of Kayak.com, but focuses exclusively on Europe, and on very, very cheap flights. When I tested the site, pretending to be driven insane by foggy, rainy London and wanting to go anywhere cheaply for a long weekend two weeks ahead, I ended up with a 38-euro (or $48) round trip on Ryanair to Nîmes in the south of France. When I actually went to Ryanair to book, the cost was £35 (or $55), including fees, and I assume the final cost (with a luggage charge, perhaps) might be a bit more. But still, a good deal. 3. Stay.com I’m generally dubious of sites that claim they can plan your trip for you. But for a quick and dirty agenda with a few useful extras, stay.com is not bad at all. Here’s what you do: Choose one of more than 100 destinations, from Aix-en-Provence to Marrakesh to Lake Tahoe. Then go through their listings of top attractions, museums, shopping, restaurants and the like, clicking on whatever appeals to you. Those choices magically turn into a personalized itinerary that you can either turn into a pdf file and print or, better yet, send to your smartphone, where with the Stay.com app you can use it — and the city map that comes with it — even when you’re offline (meaning no international roaming charges). And you’re not limited to the places you’ve initially chosen: you can add from their lists (and, theoretically, from your friends’ suggestions) on the run as well. Sure, guidebook apps might be more in depth, but stay.com is free and easy. 4. Staydu.com A neat site that matches hosts from around the world with travelers looking for unique local experiences. That can mean volunteering to teach English or doing farm work in exchange for lodging and meals, or simply paying a small fee to move in with a local resident. The site is not overly populated with opportunities yet, but shows a lot of potential. 5. Vayama.com Vayama is a flight search engine that specializes in international routes — the Achilles’ heel of the sites you already use, whether you know it or not. Vayama simply seems to know about more airlines and often finds two one-way flights on different airlines that beat out a round-trip flight on a single one. It also occasionally offers you a lower price on a “secret carrier” whose identity you don’t learn until you’ve booked the flight. 6. Trivago.com If you want to compare many hotel sites at once (including heavyweights like booking.com and hotels.com), try Trivago, an easy-to-use metasearch site. Trivago can be especially helpful in more unusual destinations. I was recently searching for a hotel stay in Fortaleza, Brazil, and Trivago included a few affordable rooms that were exclusively from volayo.com, a Brazil-based hotel booking site I had never heard of. 7. Matadornetwork.com Matador is a free online travel community whose site contains treasure troves of articles written in a variety of styles, organized into topics like “art and design,” “culture and religion” and “language and study abroad.” You can get lost in here, coming in via a search for essential Russian phrases and ending up craving lavender and hibiscus Popsicles from an Edmonton farmers market. 9. Triptuner.com No idea where you want to go? With Triptuner, just use a panel of six sliders (like the kind on graphic equalizers) to “tune” your trip. Do you want “relaxing” or “active” or somewhere in the middle? “Bikini” weather or “parka” weather? An “urban/lively” spot or a “remote/quiet” one?

William H. Gates III approximate annual salary is about 1 million dollars. He also has tons of Microsoft stock. Last salary figures I could find on the web are from 2004, it hasn't changed much since then. His wealth escalates as the price of Microsoft stock goes up. Hope this helps.