Paris, France

The City of Lights is several times more expensive than it was back in the late eighties, it is even more overrun with pickpockets, but a 12-year reign by one of the more contrarian European heads of state has come to an end. Everyone asks now if France can restore its former glory, patch up its relations with Washington, and address the social dislocations that cause increasing strains with its Muslim population.

But most of these developments pale in comparison to how much the Le Bourget air show has changed since I first saw it twenty years ago. Called simply “the Paris Air Show” by most of those who attend it, the biennial aerospace extravaganza (officially, the Salon international de l’aéronautique et de l’espace de Paris-Le Bourget) symbolizes the long, distinguished history of aviation in France by being held at the same Le Bourget aerodrome where Charles Lindbergh landed after his 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic in the Spirit of St. Louis.