miles. Afternoon found us on the Champs Elysees, and we decided to stop for coffee. By
random chance, we picked the chic Fourquet, where two glasses of champagne, two patisseries,
and a bottle of mineral water ran to 64 Euros. Seated next to us was a distinguished man--imagine Charles De Gaulle, wonderfully dressed in a tweedy sports coat, red sweater, starched
white shirt, and red, striped tie. I asked him what the thin red thread on this lapel signified. It
was the Legion of Honor, awarded since the time of Napoleon to military and civil service for
distinguished service. In his case it was his years as ambassador to a former French colony in
Africa. Ever so slowly, I elicited his story. He lives near Metz in eastern France and is in Paris
visiting his adult children. Since retiring, he stays busy overseeing the family’s castle and a
thousand acres of land. He doesn’t live in the castle because, although an historic site, it’s run
down with a leaking roof. During WWII, it was a headquarters for both German and American
armies, at different times of course. There was much more to his story, but those parts were too
personal for telling on the Internet. We tarried, talking to him, before setting off for another two
hours of walking and dinner.
No comments:
Post a Comment