Becoming a Francophiliac

The cheapest transatlantic flights to France seem to always land in Paris. So it made sense to spend some time in Paris at the beginning and the end of our trip. For the finale of our trip, we booked three nights at an Airbnb in Paris -- but this was no ordinary Airbnb. This was the actual studio of painter Georges Braque  in 1911 which the host tastefully decorated with artists' books and period furniture. Located in the center of Quartier Pigalle, our home was two blocks from the Moulin Rouge (which lost its windmill sails just before we arrived) and steps away from the Rue Lepic and Rue des Abesseses restaurant districts. This is Toulouse-Lautrec and  Amélie territory -- which is the center of Paris as far we are concerned. After months of planning, we finally got to meet Juliette Dubois, our Cine-Balade tour guide. If her exhaustively thorough website is any indication, this woman is the real Ms. Cinema and I've been waiting to meet someone like her all my lif...

Going to France is a big deal. To really appreciate France, you shouldn't just hop on a plane to Paris and go visit the Eiffel Tower. One has to know at least a little about French culture, travel a little bit around Europe first, drink a little wine, and then perhaps work your way up to the Holy Grail of travel destinations. I didn't realize it, but I've been preparing myself for this trip of a lifetime most of my life. It all started in high school when my psychology teacher took me to see Black Moon , my first French film. I didn't understand the movie, but I immediately knew this one was different. This was an "art" film. Later, when the director's name appeared on the poster for Pretty Baby  and I intuitively became aware of what I later learned was called the " auteur theory" (a French invention). Soon I was following Louis Malle, then Francois Truffaut, Alain Resnais, and later Michel Gondry -- and I became a film geek. Then there were th...