Because it’s all about lists these days, right? In no particular order:
1. Walking the streets of Paris – the entire city is a work of art. I love to simply stroll along the avenues, people watch, gaze at the architecture, find unique spots in each quartier, inhale the scents, leading to #2…
Latin Quarter
2. The smell of a patisserie. I’ll never forget the time I was strolling down a narrow street and was stopped in my tracks by a rich, buttery scent pouring out a patisserie door. I stopped, whispered, “Oh. My. God.” Closed my eyes, and stood there inhaling deeply, unselfconscious until I paused, looked inside, and saw the pastry chef watching me with an amused, and pleased, smile on his face.
3. Flower boxes on windows.
4. Fields of lavender right next to fields of sunflowers in Provence.
Abbaye de Senanque
5. Provence. For its beauty, its romance, its cuisine, its otherworldness.
6. Riding a bike through Bretagne.
7. Eating galettes and drinking cool apple cider on a hot day in Bretagne.
8. The French language. For all the grief it causes me, I love the sing-song beauty of this romantic language.
9. The Impressionists.
Claude Monet Painting in His Garden at Argenteuil, 1873 by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
10. And Paris. I really love Paris. Cliché? Perhaps. Still, to me, she will always be romantic, mysterious, something I will never quite touch nor truly understand, yet a place where I come alive and life beats forward at a quicker, more exciting, more beautiful pace.
I love Paris in the spring time
I love Paris in the fall
I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles
I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles
I love Paris every moment
Every moment of the year
I love Paris, why, oh why do I love Paris
Because my love is here
I love Paris every moment
Every moment of the year
I love Paris, why, oh why do I love Paris
Because my love is here
She’s there, she’s everywhere
But she’s really here
-Cole Porter
A French American Life 
I love France too, Paris and beyond. How is the French coming along?
The French is coming along, slowly, but there is progress! For me and for my children!
I visited Paris two decades ago, and I still feel drawn to France. Fresh foods and flowers everywhere! What a lovely post.
Thanks for reading! Yes, I’ve felt drawn to France all my life, and even more now that I know it!
I LOVE this list. My heart beats out of my chest when reading each word about France. I will get there one day!
Definitely get there – it is so worth it! Thanks for reading 🙂
You definitely picked the good things about France. How about adding – sitting in an outdoor cafe with a cup of coffee people watching.
Judy
YES! Let’s call that one #11. In no particular order.
Halo,
Your #4 on the list is my favorite one. Funny because 4 is also my destiny number (total of my birthdate into a single number). And I fell in love with Provence because of the Lavender and Sun flower farm. I saw the photos of the farm a week ago. From that photos, I wrote a poetry. Both the photo and the poetry is in my blog now. I also write a prose with the same title: Finding Home.
You can have a look here at http://diananora.wordpress.com/poetry
How funny that we both had sunflowers and lavender on our minds this week! Your picture, and poem, are lovely!
Here is my suggestion for #12: the sense of history that imbues every cobblestone, every traditional food, many towns and cities. I love wondering about the origin of a street name, seeing a Roman ruin next to a medieval cathedral (like in Lyon), and bumping into castles and used bookstores!
So true, Sarah. Astute, as always, my friend!
Flower boxes and windows with shutters melted my heart in Paris 🙂
And I can admit that I’m an official patisserie addict 😀
Yes, me too, on both counts!
A good top 10 list for me , especially the ones on Bretagne ::)
Cheers
I know – I so dearly love Bretagne.
yes, that is why, I like it too, well live in it. I just brought some florentins chocolates at work for the gang and they were so surprise to find a chocolatier brought in by me, the thing flew ,all eaten. look it up Michel Chatillon at Pleyben.
That chocolatier looks fabulous. As does Pleyben – I’m going to have to put that on my places to explore list for next time we’re in Bretagne!
yes you will do good there, nice historical town with the calvary and Church next to the chocolates !
Beautiful! I love all those things too! 😉 Your photos are so pretty, by the way!
Thank you, Maria!
I loved reading your top ten. I think that I might well have had Brittany and Provence on my list as well. They’re so different as regions, but that’s part of what I love about travelling around France.
Me too – I love the different terrains, cuisines, people, accents…
You hit everything that is great about France! I have felt for a very long time that I belong here-it feels like home for me and now, I am looking for a home in the Provence area with mon amour 🙂 to make a bed and breakfast “project” as a business plan is called here. It is truly a beautiful and magical place…
That sounds like a dream come true – best of luck on your project!
Excellent list! The flower boxes in the windows are so quaint. Love them. And Brittany is one of my favorite regions. I especially love it in the winter.
Thanks, Diane! I’ve only been to Brittany in the summer, which is absolutely gorgeous. But it has a starkness, a ruggedness, that I imagine is stunning in winter. Maybe someday…
Love your blog. My husband and I are hoping to move to Paris in 18 months when we retire. Have been multiple times and we love all the things on your list as well. We just have to master the language and that’s a work in progress!
So glad you found me! How exciting, a move to Paris! I feel like mastering French will be a work in progress for the rest of my life!