In France, it is all about le belle vie or the good life. We may have codified the pursuit of happiness in our American constitution, but the French have perfected the pursuit of happiness in their daily lives. Who has not dreamed of a three-hour leisurely lunch in a charming sidewalk café in Paris or a picnic with wine, cheese and bread in the countryside of la belle France?

France is Western Europe’s largest country, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea and Spain on its southern border to Belgium on its northern border. Nearly the size of Texas with just over 211,000 square miles of land, France also shares borders with Andorra, Monaco, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

A result primarily of its 19th century colonialism, France today has overseas departments and territories scattered throughout the world in French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte and Reunion. As defined by its European borders, France is officially known as Metropolitan France, which includes mainland France and the island of Corsica.

Metropolitan France has a population just over 64 million. Its population swells to almost 66 million when all its departments and territories are included, making it the twentieth most populous country in the world and third most populous in Europe.

French culture places a high priority on the enjoyment of food and wine. In the 20th century, Georges Auguste Escoffier established French haute cuisine and the Guide Michelin, literally the food bible in France. He introduced the pleasures of regional cooking in France to the world. French wines, most famously centered in the regions of Burgundy and Bordeaux, have been the world’s standard for centuries.

Add music, art, cinema, fashion and a fine appreciation for other aesthetic pleasures to the country’s excellent education and healthcare systems and you will see why France is known throughout the world as la belle France, beautiful France.

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