Happy Bastille Day!

Happy Bastille Day!

Ah, Paris.

Well, France actually. Sweet memories and lots of fantasies. There’s something about France that calls to the romantic. I may only have a tiny amount of French blood in my veins, but a large part of my heart will always be at home on the Ile St. Louis in an apartment over a bakery, with the scent of roasting coffee and raisin bread to wake me up to a gray morning in the City of Light. Another part will be dashing across the French countryside in a sprung carriage, racing away from Chauvalin, the Scarlet Pimpernel by my side as we make for the coast and freedom. For me, France is a fantasy and reality all blissfully intertwined.

Bastille Day, when the French celebrate all that is Frenchness. The food, the wine, the philosophy, the song. I spent one Bastille Day on French soil, in Tours, where my companions attempted to get the DJ of a karaoke bar to play Mariah Carey song. I tried to explain, it’s like trying to get an American DJ to play a French song on the Fourth of July. It’s just not happening.

Bastille Day, when dashing heroes are rescuing maidens imperiled in the madness of the Revolution, and getting a very thorough reward for their efforts. Petticoats and passionate French kisses. Powdered wigs and powder kegs.

France is a land of beauty and attitude, of soft dappled light and lush countryside. A hedonists dream, and a land made to explore every sort of passion. Love is a little more free there than anywhere else, and passions run a little hotter when whispered in the language of romance.

I have yet to find the perfect plot to reflect my deep love for France, but once I do, I will glory in writing about the land, the people, and the passion of France. But for now, I will make crepes for dinner, spend money on a good Brie and a bottle of wine, and drink a toast to romance and to France.

Elaine Lowe is awork-at-home mom in Silicon Valley. She misses traveling intensely, but makes up for it in her imagination, and is current working on books set in Bristol, England and Waimea, Hawaii. Check out her website and her books at elainelowenovels.com