You may remember how I mentioned Owen Wilson riding past me on a bike last week (this was actually the SECOND time in a 24 hour period that I “ran into” Owen – the first occurred the day before as I stopped to look at a painting in the window of a gallery only to realize that the man checking out the same work of art,  only on the other side of the glass inside the gallery, was none other than Owen. I don’t know if he saw past my shades and into the surprise in my eyes or not, but he quickly turned away and I stumbled away, so surprised that I turned the wrong direction and arrived late to my rendez-vous). It turns out, my new friend (stalker?…only kidding) was in the country to promote his newest movie, Midnight in Paris at the Cannes Film Festival. Last weekend, I went to see the movie and I must tell you, in one fell swoop, it has become one of my favorite Paris movies. Yes, I’m serious. It hits the absolute spot for me coupling the subjects of Paris and writing. Oh, I loved it.

I also loved it because for the first time, I was watching a movie filmed in the city where I live. (Unless I missed the full-length movie filmed completely in Fort Worth, Texas?) In nearly every shot I thought, “Yep, I go there a lot,” or, “Oh yeah, totally love that place.” Seeing Paris from the lens of movie camera helped me remember how fantastically blessed I am to be spending my current days here.

This was the first big theater, full crowd, movie viewing I’ve done in Paris. Packed into a huge theater on the Champs-Elysees with fellow Parisians, we watched a movie about our city. The room ringed with laughter when a French couple tells Owen in near perfect English that they don’t speak English as well as at a dig the film makes at the American Republican Tea Party; they even applauded at the conclusion of the movie.

But can I tell you the best thing about it all? It’s that for the first time, after having watched a movie about Paris, I stepped out into the real Paris. You just can’t beat that.