Paris - Texas (well, California)

The address is just perfect: rue de St Honoré. The Paris HQ of Gentry de Paris is also the home of San Francisco-born Gentry Lane, the already acclaimed entrepreneur behind the new masters of chic L.A. Confidential style lingerie, all hand-made in Europe.

Her company is still new and small, but worldwide sales are picking up. It's interesting that it takes an an American girl to package European style and heritage - and export it back to the Americans. Oprah is next in line.

We dropped any business talk yesterday. She had urgent matters and I was a little weak from the cocktails the evening before, so she ended up writing emails and I napping on her (bargained) Louis XVI sofa with her mops Napoleon on my chest. A better start on any collaboration than facts and numbers.

Europe doesn't need to become a theme park to profit from its lush history. We just need to package - and sell - it better. I guess it takes Americans to show us how it's done.