A friend asked me where my fascination with French culture and, most importantly Paris, comes from.  I could not give her a definitive answer.  I can not trace it to an one moment in my life.  What I believe is this grew from is a sum of experiences that led up to the greatest vacation I have ever took!  I remember seeing Chanel commercials as a young child., so graceful and sexy though I probably would not have said so at the time.  I remember seeing the Red Balloon in first grade.  The story was simple but, the landscape is what really got me with the grey streets punctuated with color.  The interest grew in my favorite movies with lines like, "We'll always have Paris. We didn't have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night" or And those pantalettes, I don't know a woman in Paris who wears pantalettes.  I remember seeing Audrey Hepburn striding through Fashion Central, Cooking School, and Intrigue on Saturday night movies on PBS and thought, "this is for me".  I saw images of the sites on the news, on television, and in movies over the years.   I learned about the culture and the history of the country. 

When it came to junior high and choosing a language to study, my choice was obvious (although not practical) was French.  While girls had posters of the latest heartthrobs on their wall, I had one shot of the Eiffel Tower at dusk, glowing against the violet sky.  In high school, I was in French club although a language class would not fit into my class schedule.  I would have studied abroad in Paris if I didn't have a nervous mother.  I had hoped to go on my honeymoon but such was not the case.  It was easy to see what I wanted, it was harder to make it happen.  When things turned for me, I pulled money together, little by little, and saved for my passport and two days in Paris.