France has been synonymous with Romance for longer than your Grandmother cares to remember, so whether you visit Paris or the Pyrenees, the Cote 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.France is like nowhere else on Earth. Although many other places have a long and rich history, beautiful landscapes, and a complex, compelling culture, no other country has all these things in such extravagant measure as France. However, France is all these things and more, a profusion of many small worlds, each exploding with epiphanies of beauty, bounties of great food, and an unbelievable historic and artistic record that begins with cave painters and continues through to François Mitterrand's architectural bequest to Paris, the Grands Projets.

France is also unique in its people. The intensely proud French never doubt that they live at the center of the civilized world. In fact, long after you've seen the museums and the monuments, you'll find yourself wanting to return to France, simply to be with the French people in that sometimes peculiar parallel universe known as France.