France
The
French wrote the book on la vie en rose and gave the world
crème brûlée and camembert, de Beauvoir and Debussy, the Tour
de France and the Tour Eiffel. So if they have a finely tuned
sense of national pride, who are we to point fingers? Although the
ubiquity of Levis and Le Big Mac flusters the country's cultural
purists, anything from a year in Provence to a weekend in Paris
will explain why half the world grows dreamy over stalking the
streets of Cyrano or picnicking Manet-style sur l'herbe.
France has been synonymous with Romance for longer than your
grandmother cares to remember, so whether you visit Paris or the
Pyrenees, the Côte d'Azur or the auberge de jeunesse, be sure to
keep your fantasies in check, your expectations in line and your joie
in your vivre. |