Renewing Old Friendships

January 22nd, 2018

We had two lovely events over the weekend where we were able to spend time with some long-standing friends of ours.  On Saturday, we were invited to the Paris apartment of Marie-Claude and Brian. I have known Marie-Claude since my arrival in Boston close to 30 years ago.  She was a chaplain at the Catholic church in Harvard Square and ran a charity, then called Earthen Vessels and now called EV Kids, which provides support and academic tutoring for at-risk kids in Boston.  I volunteered to be a tutor in the program, and did so for my entire graduate school career and beyond, until Caroline was born.  (I could write pages about Marie-Claude's amazing generosity, the others tutors, the kids we met, the experiences we had, different facets of the program, and so on, but I will just say here that it was a wonderful experience.)  

The apartment was on Boulevard Garibaldi, in the 15th near the Segur metro, the apartment that Marie-Claude and her five siblings grew up in.  The building was built in 1929, with strong art deco influences, and I assume her parents bought the apartment at that time.  I would guess she was born a few years after that.  She told stories about how two children slept in the bathroom and two in the living room until they were able to buy the neighboring apartment and combine the two into a larger one.  During WWII, Marie-Claude's partents harbored a Jewish housekeeper as well, when the Jewish residents of Paris were all being sent to Drancy.  The apartments are now separate again, and her sister lives in the neighboring one.  She and Brian keep the apartment for their annual visits to Paris, and also used it at times for various sabbaticals.  

We enjoyed hearing Brian's reminiscences about how they first met, and marveled at how travel has changed since those days.  In 1960, Brian was an undergraduate at Harvard studying classics.  He wanted to learn German and Italian for his studies and found the offerings at Harvard lacking.  So he took a leave, boarded a steamer, and set off for Europe.  It was a small boat, buffeted by the stormy Atlantic and North Sea, finally landing in Germany.  He had no personal connections, and, of course, no cell phone, no internet, and no hotel reservations.  He only had the letter of invitation to the school outside of Munich that he would attend.  He was able to find temporary lodgings along the way and transportation to Munich.  When he arrived in Munich, however, a festival was in full swing and hotel rooms were all booked.  (It was Oktoberfest, something that he had never heard of before.)  He was able to rent a room in someone's apartment and also discovered that he enjoyed beer.  

He met Marie-Claude at the German school.  She was also a student, learning German after having received her business degree.  Within three weeks, the topic of marriage had come up, and after their studies were over, Brian arranged for Marie-Claude to come visit the US to see if she would like living there.  The rest, as they say, is history.  

Marie-Claude prepared a lovely and delicious lunch for us, consisting of gratin d'endive au jambon, salad, cheese and baguette, and a berry tart for dessert.

At one point, our conversation turned to the Marquis de Lafayette.  We mentioned the biography that Kate just read, by Harlow Giles Unger, and how we learned that he was much more famous in the US than in France.  Marie-Claude mentioned that she has a French expat friend, living in Cambridge, whose mission is to evangelize for Lafayette, and she is working on bringing a ballet about his life to Boston.  I said we would be the first to buy tickets.  Brian also recommended a book called "When the United States Spoke French" by Francois Furstenberg.  It talks about Lafayette and other Frenchmen who were instrumental in shaping the nascent American democracy.  

Then on Sunday night, we had dinner with another dear friend, Barbara.  We met her and her husband David around 1993 when we bought our house in Cambridge.  David is a rabbi and Barbara is a professor of French at Suffolk University.  They are the loveliest and most generous of people.  Barbara is spending this semester in Paris running a seminar at the Sorbonne, doing research using original documents in the city's 18th century archives, and living in the 11th.  We invited Barbara over to watch the Patriots' playoff game.  (Glenn subscribed to the NFL Gamepass and can cast the internet stream onto our TV.)  I made chili, which seemed appropriate for the occasion, and Barbara brought beer.  It was so nice to see her and to hear about how she's settled in.  She told us about all of the things she loves in Paris, including shopping in les passages, walking the streets near Canal St. Martin , going to the bio marche in Raspail.  She also told us about a hidden museum in the basement of a Uniqlo.  I look forward to seeing Barbara over the next few months and accompanying her on trips to her favorite clothing boutiques and tea houses.  (Barbara has great taste.)  And the Patriots won.