Obama, France's Hollande make pilgrimage to Jefferson's Monticello

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande toured Thomas Jefferson's plantation estate on Monday in a show of solidarity for Franco-American ties that have endured for more than two centuries despite the occasional tempest.

The visit to Monticello, home to America's third president, served to showcase a relationship that stretches back to the founding of the United States in the late 18th century, an alliance still strong despite spats over U.S. eavesdropping and trade talks with the European Union.