CANAL DU MIDI, France--It's high summer in France: bikinis blossom on the beach at St. Tropez and lovers stroll in lingering twilight beneath the Eiffel Tower. The only things missing from these postcard-perfect scenes are Americans. Still fuming over French President Jacques Chirac's active opposition to the war in Iraq, Americans are taking out their ire by staying home or vacationing elsewhere. "I doubt I'll ever set foot in France again," a hawkish friend from Kansas e-mailed me. Other friends who are veterans echoed the same sentiment. "France?" You couldn't pay me to go there!" snorted one. Well, somebody did...