"April in Paris...chestnuts in blossom....
holiday tables under the trees...
April in Paris....this is a feeling
no one can ever reprise
I never knew the joy of spring,
I never met it face to face
I never knew my heart could sing,
I never felt a warm embrace till
April in Paris...whom can I run to?
What have you done to my heart?"
~Yip Harburg and Vernon Duke

"Well, we really meant for you to visit Paris in May - but the rhythm required two syllables."
~Vernon Duke

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Every phase of my American life has been influenced by Paris... from the first fashion magazine I saw as a young girl, that made me want to draw those beautiful clothes and later become a fashion artist...to the music I loved as I was growing up... Ravel and Debussy...and later, during art school days, Satie and Milhaud. Sargent's portrait of Madame Gautreaux, the quintessence of Paris to me. The jazz of Django Rheinhardt, the films I adored with Jeanne Moreau and Simone Signoret. How I longed to have been an expatriate living in Paris like Josephine Baker, and Hemingway and Fitzgerald. And how I suffered that I was born too late to have known them all. This life-long passion for Paris led to my most recent visit, where I again enjoyed the amazing feast it always serves up for me. Here is what I saw this time...

all images copyright© sherle stevens