Travel - Paris

There's something about Paris.  I am not sure what it is.  There's just something in the air.

Never mind the tourist nightmare that is the Champs Elyssee.  No.  Just walk through the tree-lined side streets, and you'll see what I mean.  

Is it elegance?

Is it culture?

Is it because the local women sashay by, dressed in that seemingly efforless, yet stunningly groomed way that no other nation seems to be able to match?

Is it because the historic buildings are so amazingly beautiful, the river Seine flowing lazily between them?

Is it because you can sit at a cafe and have a meal that will delight your tastebuds at that wonderful relaxed pace that allows you to really wind down and just look at the world for a change?

Is it that lovely, sing-song languge you hear spoken all around you, like music in words?

When you visit Paris, you suddenly understand all those French phrases that we use in English without translation like:

• Joie de vivre
• She has that certain je ne sais quoi

If Grace Kelly were a city, she'd be Paris.