I was watching one of my old favorite movies on DVD and it reminded me how much I love France.

In the first hour of "Around the World in 80 Days," David Niven and Cantinflas are soaring over the French countryside in a hot-air balloon. I've never flown over France in anything but a jet airliner, so I haven't seen that view, but I have visited the country four times -- in 1977, 1994, 2001 and 2009 -- and I think I love it more every time I go.

[caption id="attachment_585" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The beautiful French countryside"]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0097.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-585" title="DSC_0097" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0097-300x199.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="199" /></a>[/caption]

I don't remember the name of this village we visited late in the spring of 2009, but I remember the wonderful meal we had and how incredible the countryside looked.

In this country, particularly here in California, something a hundred years old is ancient. But in France it isn't unusual at all to see buildings that have stood for 500 or even 1,000 years. When I visited France in 1994, my wife took me to <a title="Carcassonne" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne" target="_self">Carcassonne</a>, a medieval forstress that dates back to the seventh century A.D.

The fortress itself is only for tourists now, but the city around it has buildings older than anything in the Western Hemisphere.

We hear a lot in this country about how rude the French are and how much they dislike Americans, but I have been there four times and no one has ever been anything other than nice to me.

<em>Mike, you have a French wife.</em>

True, and both of my children were born there as well. But I had never met Nicole in 1977 and the children hadn't even been born yet the first time I visited. I spent a week in Paris with only my college French and my Berlitz phrase book to guide me, and I can honestly say people were perfectly wonderful to me.

<em>You probably told them you were Canadian.</em>

No, but I didn't act like I was superior to them on the basis of being American. I showed them how much I appreciated their country, which I really do.

It's amazing how nice people can be when you let them know you respect them.