A little Bastille Day gift can be found below: a graffito found etched onto a map of the grounds at the Palace of Versailles, reading “I ♥ NY.” It’s emblazoned onto one end of the Grand Canal. During the reign of Louis XIV, gilded gondolas would have sailed here.

I don’t know why this amuses me so much, but it does. There is a brawny, charming hubris among New Yorkers. What Parisian would etch “Vive la France” onto a tree in Central Park?

published July 14, 2009