"Looks like a Monet, doesn't it?" I asked, hoping to connect Ariel, my 15-year-old granddaughter, to the scenery that had been a favorite subject of the painter. It was the first day of our trip in France, an auspiciously sunny spring morning as we drove south of Paris into region Val de Loire/Centre, toward Bourges, the geographical heart of France.

"Yes ... so cool," said Ariel, viewing the lush countryside's spring leaves, and riotous bloom of yellow buttercups a ...

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