2008 Reunion Report

See the 5/18/08 email from Anne below, and subsequently scanned images concerning her.

Our long dreamed-of visit to see Anne de Contades d'Ornano and Jean-Claude Aubourg was fulfilled on April 13-20 when 16 of us made the trek to Paris and then Deauville. The hospitality extended to us by Anne and Jean-Claude exceeded all that we had dared hope for, and helped make our trip a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Below are many of our photos, videos, and a narrative of what we did.

Participants and Their Photos

Jean-Claude and Charlotte Aubourg          Camera?
George Cadwell and son Charles               Their photos: April 14, April 15, April 16, April 17, April 18
Naomi Johnson Dempsey                           Her photos  New 5/12/08
Anne de Contades d’Ornano                       No camera
Art Geoffrion                                                 His photos;  cruise photo (new 6/2/08) of Art, the Volows, George, and George's son Charles
Jim and Gael Graham                                  His videos: see below
George and Joan Konvalinka Hawkins       No camera
Tom and Angie Jackson                              No camera
Morley and Ann Wauchope Smith ‘56        Their photos; photos from their car trip the week after reunion, with this accompanying narrative New 6/19/08
Owen and Bernadette Smith                       No camera
Michael and Becci Volow                            Their photos  New 5/3/08

Note: Photos are in Web albums of the type you've already seen many times on this site. You initially get thumbnail pages, and clicking on any thumbnail yields a medium-resolution version that may have a caption (a fair amount of effort has gone into adding captions where they matter most); clicking on a medium-resolution version yields the high-resolution version (if you see a little magnifying glass icon, click again to get the full-sized image). The high-resolution versions don't have captions, and the backspace key will take you back to the medium-resolution image where you will also notice navigational buttons in the upper right.

Note: The high-resolution images in these Web albums (not the thumbnail or medium-resolution versions) are quite good enough for printing small to medium-sized prints. But even higher-resolution images are available in most cases if you want to make large prints; contact the photographer or Art if you want any of those.

Note: Some of Anne's campaign literature will be scanned and posted here.

Monday, 4/14/2008

Most of us arrive at Paris’ CDG airport sleepless but excited. Owen and Bernadette and the Volows arrived earlier. We all check into Hotel St. Germain des Pres, 36 rue Bonaparte, Paris. It is a nice small hotel just across the river from the Louvre and handy to many other top tourist destinations. George Hawkins passes out Hawkins-embroidered baseball hats to all, which prove to be surprisingly useful in the days ahead. Some sally forth, while others crash in their room until dinner time.

A little after 7pm, a couple of vans take us in about a half hour to a sumptuous welcome dinner at the charming home of Jean-Claude and Charlotte Aubourg at 4 rue Leopold Bellan in the eastern suburb of Bry-sur-Marne. Their house is full of lovely antiques from Thailand, acquired during the years when Jean-Claude had an import business until, in 1975, the Thai government embargoed many such exports. Ed Dey ’54, who lives in Paris, joins us as he does again Tuesday and Friday night. He spent some years in the foreign service, then went into banking, and is now retired. No one wants to leave, but eventually we have to.
 
Tuesday, 4/15

We go en masse a couple of blocks to a boulangerie for breakfast. The weather threatens and tends to be on the breezy side, but we never get more than very light sprinkles during our entire time in France (leaving aside a brief hailstorm on Sunday) and our umbrellas nearly always remain furled.

Most of us head for the Eiffel Tower, but the lines are so long that we give up and set forth on foot in small groups toward different destinations.

The Cadwells and Grahams make it all the way to the Arc de Triomphe and thence down the Champs-Elysees to the Tuileries.

Another group goes to nearby Parc du Champs de Mars, a large park with an excellent view of the Eiffel Tower, and from there to Musee du Quai Branly, a new (2006) and fascinating collection of artifacts from outside Europe ... mostly Africa, but also Central and South America, South Pacific, and the indigenous populations of Canada. The innovative design of this museum has received a lot of acclaim but also sparked considerable controversy.

This evening we go to dinner at Anne’s elegant home at 16 rue Gutenberg in Boulogne-Billancourt, a western suburb about 20 minutes away. She has been Présidente du conseil général du Calvados (something like a state governor in the US) since 1991, and has just been elected to yet another term. Calvados is a good-sized Département of France. We are all treated like distinguished diplomats by Anne’s courteous staff. It is a magical evening of animated conversation and picture-taking, finished off with some really good Calvados (the famous brandy made from hand-picked apples grown nearby, and aged in oak casks for at least two years). A delicious evening in every respect.

Wednesday, 4/16

Different strokes for different folks, with Musée d'Orsay and the Louvre near the top of the list for many. Both are nearby, and are two of the greatest museums in the world.

Another group tours Notre Dame in depth with English audio guides, eats delicious crepes for lunch, laments that the exquisite Sainte-Chapelle is closed today (but others did tour it earlier), and then spends the afternoon at the Centre Pompidou, home to great quantities of modern art. There was a really weird special exhibition of works by Louise Bourgeois. There are 3D and even walk-in works of great imagination that are a lot of fun. All this within easy walking distance of our hotel in one of the most pedestrian-friendly districts of the city. Getting lost is never to be feared, since it always leads to enjoyable serendipity.

The evening finds most of us on an upscale dinner-dancing cruise (Bateaux Parisiens) down the Seine, arranged by Owen Smith and joined by some delightful friends of his. We see more than a dozen major landmarks from the water, and we see them both by day and by night when the lights dazzle. The Eiffel Tower is truly spectacular at night, especially now that it has hundreds of strobe lights (installed in 2000) that explode in a randomized pattern every hour on the hour for 10 minutes in a way that has to be seen to be appreciated. Have a look at this YouTube video (not taken by us) to get an inkling. With a full moon passing exactly over the tower as we return to the dock, every camera tries to capture this unique and romantic photo op.

Thursday, 4/17

Today begins with a private bus trip of nearly 3 hours to Deauville, of which Anne served as Mayor from 1977 to 2001, in her Calvados district. It is an incredibly picturesque, upscale seaside resort with a big casino, yacht harbor, plenty of tennis and golf, and the famous Deauville-La Touques track for thoroughbred racing and polo. The surrounding countryside is not only lovely, but also the main region in France for breeding horses. Since 1975, Deauville’s annual American Film Festival has been taking place the week after Labor Day. Anne and her husband Michael were largely responsible for nurturing this festival to its present degree of prominence, meeting in the process virtually every major personality in American cinema.

We check into the Normandy Barriere, 38 rue jean Mermoz in Deauville, a gorgeous hotel inside and out. Anne has kindly upgraded our rooms, so we all enjoy high-roller trappings.

We enjoy a leisurely lunch at Pizzaria Barbara near the hotel, then most of us explore the town on foot. The architecture of the houses is spell-biding; each is more lovely or artful than the last. It is still intermittently sunny, and remains so throughout our stay, but definitely cooler than Paris.

One group happens quite by accident to enter the gallery of a painter of enormous flowers somewhat reminiscent of Georgia O’Keefe’s. As we chatted up the artist, Beatrice Augier, we learned that her husband succeeded Anne as Mayor and still serves in that capacity. She’s looking for a suitable place in the US to open a gallery, in case you have any suggestions.

We venture forth again at 7 pm for dinner and are turned away by the first restaurant we try which, although empty, seemed unable to cope with nearly 20 high-spirited Americans. Our second attempt succeeds and we enjoy a leisurely dinner at Chez Miocque near our hotel.

Friday, 4/18

We leave the hotel for the Normandy invasion beaches by private bus around at 8:30 am after eating way too much at the elaborate buffet breakfast in our hotel (American Plan).

The huge and desolate beaches, the remains of the German fortifications, the skillfully crafted memorials, museums, and vast cemeteries all make a big impression on us. We begin at Musée de Debarquement in Arromanches, the first museum to be built in commemoration of the June 6th, 1944 D-Day landings. It is on the spot where one of two huge floating harbors – towed all the way from England and called the Mulberry Harbours – supported the invasion forces. It was an engineering marvel most of us had not appreciated before. The museum has a large-scale model of the original harbor, and also features informative films and artifacts.

Lunch is at the marvelous XVIIIth Century country inn Ferme de la Rançonnière in Crepon, and Anne is able to break away from work to join us (security detail in tow) for a memorable meal.

Next we visit the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer (see also here) overlooking Omaha Beach and the English Channel. It has a beautiful and elaborate memorial, 9387 grave markers arranged with laser-perfect precision in field after field of immaculate landscaping, and a wonderful new (2007) Visitor Center that explains the landings very well with artifacts, films, and in-wall videos.

Finally, we visit Pointe du Hoc between Utah Beach and Omaha Beach, scene of an astonishing US Army D-Day attack. There is a museum and memorial, but the highlight of this stop is a chance to clamber all over the concrete artillery fortifications. Large bomb and shell craters are everywhere.

Our bus carries us back to Deauville. We are a bit quieter than usual … perhaps owing to our improved appreciation for the enormity and sacrifice of the D-Day landings and their aftermath.

Dinner is at Anne’s gorgeous “main” home on La cour Bénouville on a hillside overlooking town. She receives us graciously once more, attends to our every need and whim, patiently answers all our questions concerning the memorabilia from her eventful life that seemingly is everywhere, and she even presents us all with gifts: beautiful scarves for the ladies and handsome ties for the men. 

Saturday, 4/19

Another huge buffet breakfast at our hotel. Mercifully, the day is left free for us to rebuild our strength for tomorrow’s trip home after a succession of great meals, very late nights, long rides, and daily marathon walks.

Many of us venture to Honfleur (see also here), a picturesque, nearly-1000-year-old town in Anne’s Calvados district on the Seine where it meets the ocean, less than a half hour from Deauville. It was a very important port of embarkation during the time of the great French explorers in the 1500s and 1600s, including the voyage of Samuel de Champlain that founded the city of Quebec. There is a street market going on all morning, which fascinates, and we also enjoy walking around the harbor and visiting old churches and museums. Some of us have lunch in town before returning to Deauville.

At 8:30 pm we hold our farewell dinner in honor of Anne at Le Centrale, a brasserie in Trouville, a seaside town just across the Touques river from Deauville. Anne drives some us back to our hotel in her vintage Mercedes, which she says she cannot replace because it has become a fixture around town (and is immune from parking tickets). Making our way from the brasserie to where she has parked takes some time, because everyone on the street seems to know her and wants to chat. But eventually we reach our hotel, say our good-byes to her in the lobby, and turn in.

Sunday, 4/20

We overdose yet again at the hotel breakfast buffet and leave by private bus for Charles de Gaul airport. We have had the same bus and excellent driver all week thanks to Anne’s arrangement. But this time we are missing Joan, George, and Naomi, who set off by car on their own for a few days, and Owen and Bernadette, who also have a car.

We are very sorry to see this improbable reunion come to a close, but ever so grateful that it came to pass. We are all indebted to Naomi, Joan, Anne, and Jean-Claude for planning and executing this most memorable journey so well.

These AVI video clips, selected from nearly 150 that Jim took, can be played by Windows Media Player, Real Player, and other programs. If your Web browser is set up to play AVI files, just clicking on any of the links below will play the clip. But sometimes a Web browser isn't set up properly. Rather than try to explain how to fix such problems, the easiest may be to right-click on any link and then save the file to your desktop or wherever you want; then you can play it from there using any program that can play AVI files. Be forewarned that some of these files run into tens of megabytes, so downloads can take awhile. You might want to test on VID00130, because it is the smallest file.

VID00016    Taking a group picture at Jean-Claude’s (Monday)
VID00017    Dinner at Jean-Claude’s on Monday. Anne talks to Jean-Claude; Ed Dey; George and Charles Cadwell; Art; Gael (we are all told to say “fromage” rather than cheese)
VID00018    Anne explains the small, red Legion of Honor rosette on her lapel (Monday). This is a bigger deal than she lets on.
VID00019    Owen explains bits of his career and that of Bernadette’s father to Anne (Monday).
VID00020    More dinner at Jean-Claude’s (Monday)
VID00030    The Cadwells and Grahams figure out what to do next (Tuesday).
VID00107    Arriving at Anne’s home in Paris (Tuesday evening)
VID00108    Interior pan of Anne’s home in Paris (Tuesday evening)
VID00122    Outside our hotel in Deauville
VID00129    Dinner at Chez Miocque not far from our hotel (Thursday night)
VID00130    Owen Smith at dinner (Thursday night)
VID00139    Lunch at Ferme de la Rançonnière in Crepon (Friday)
VID00144    Returning to our hotel after our farewell dinner with Anne (Saturday)
VID00145    After our farewell dinner with Anne, in our hotel lobby (Saturday)
VID00146    After our farewell dinner with Anne, in our hotel lobby (Saturday)
 

• Cover of a campaign flyer for the 2008 elections
• 4-page brochure on the Calvados Department of which Anne is president: page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4