The ship that started it all for me -- the fabled and storied Ile de France of the French Line -- earns the coveted number 2 slot in the top 10 for two reasons: sheer perfection of design and unabashed sentimental loyalty.  Thanks to a chance viewing of The Last Voyage as a child, in black and white no less, I have been hooked on the aesthetics of ocean liner interior design ever since.  I love the Ile because she was the first truly modern ship.  A vessel who made no pretence about being an Edwardian hotel or a mountain cottage.  She was a ship who was proud to be just that -- a ship! 

Seizing on the modern and then-new art deco aesthetic of 1927, the Ile de France adapted with the times and tastes of the traveling public over her many years of faithful service.  Modern passenger liner, troop ship serving valiantly in World War II, and finally, after an extensive re-fit in which she transformed from a three stack liner to a much more striking two, the Ile de France is unequalled in her design perfection.  Her interiors were gorgeous yet simple and not overdone, and the word that I come back to time and again in describing her is simply... "elegant."  In all her tastefulness, she still appears to have been a very comfortable way to cross the pond, and certainly earned her pervasive presence in modern popular culture.  She was even immortalized by the fabulous Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields in the song A Fine Romance with the lyrics... "you're just as hard to land as the Ile de France... this is fine romance."  And that's exactly what I have with this ship!
 

I acquired a set of Stereo Realist slides taken by a couple who were lucky enough to cross in her in January of 1956, one of which I have featured here (to the right).  Their names were (believe it or not) Jack and Rose (however unfortunately), and I can only imagine that Rose carried in that charming little clutch purse of hers a camera which recorded many glamorous images of their fantastic voyage.  A favorite of the traveling public right up until the day she was withdrawn from service, I am proud to call the Ile de France my second favorite ocean liner of all time! 

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