Armistice Day In Paris

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 an “Armistice” was signed in a railroad car in a clearing in the woods near Compiegne, France. Over 1,397,000 French soldiers lay dead. (Later, the Nazi’s used the same railroad car to accept the surrender of France in World War II). Appropriately the French take the Armistice Day very seriously and it is a national holiday with reduced service on all transportation.

Nevertheless, around 11:00am Billi Pod and David made their way to the Cafe Deux Magots for coffee and Danish.

This cafe is famous for the “Lost Generation” of American writers, such as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Joyce, Anderson and artists, such as Picasso, who made the cafe home in the 1920s.

Today a pleasant surprise awaited us. As background, David and I have known one another since we were roommates in 1962 while he was an undergraduate and I was in law school. As you can imagine, we have heard each other’s tales repeated ad infinitum (ad nauseum might also be appropriate) over the last 48 years and again for the last 96 hours. But, what a pleasant surprise befell us in the cafe when seated next to us were Dr. James Brookeman, Ph.D and his wife. She is a lawyer and he was a professor at the UF from 1968 to 1984 and is now a physics professor at the University of Virginia. What a surprise and blessing too! Neither had heard our stories before, of course, so basically David was off and running for about 45 minutes and, as usual, Billi Pod assumed the listening role, as is his want.

We had a very nice time with them and we are still amazed at what a small world it is ... think about it ... a cafe in Paris ... in the rain ... on Armistice Day ... and we make contact with a couple who have been part of The Gator Nation ... what are the odds? Oh, I forgot to add ... I was wearing my Yankee hat, not my Gator hat, and they spoke to us first ... what are the odds???

When we left the cafe we suffered the rain to catch a bus to the Louvre where we split. David spent some time in The Apple Store located in the Louvre Entrance Carousel and then came back to the apartment.

Billi Pod spent 3+ hours overloading on medieval art, artifacts and statues. Enough art for awhile, OK.

When I left the Louvre I walked back to the apartment. It was still raining. As a matter-of-fact, it is still raining at 11:00pm.

David fixed another great dinner - salad, fish, rice and peas. We decided to stay in tonight because ...

Early tomorrow we pick up our rental car at Gare Nord and head northward to the Normandy Beaches. First will be Caen for the World War II Museum (now known as the Memorial to Peace Museum), then on to the Pegasus Bridge (much more about that in the next blog) before spending the night at Bayeux - home to William the Conqueror.

Saturday begins early as we board a six person van for an all-day tour of the D-Day Beaches and some inland towns, i.e. St-Mere Eglise., St. Lo, etc.

Hope to be able to give a report tomorrow night after we reach our hotel in Bayeux.

Oh, as most of you loyal and faithful readers are no doubt aware ... David has been a major contributor in the preparation of these postings.

GO GATORS!!

Billi Pod

“Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.”