Best of Enemies
Last time I was in Paris, with my son, we walked down to see the Louvre on a Tuesday afternoon, forgetting that it’s always closed on Tuesdays. So instead we took a long walk up the Champs Elysées to the Arc de Triomphe.
The day must have been some EU anniversary, or else it coincided with a visit from a Berlin dignitary. All up the broad avenue, flags fluttered from every post: the French tricolor and the red-yellow-black ensign of Germany. It was somewhat daunting to see this display of Franco-German unity, in the year of world defiance of America, and feel our small and American selves beneath it.
At the end of our long walk, we reached the Arc. We stood under it and looked up and around, and read what was engraved in marble and cast in bronze.
... more
The day must have been some EU anniversary, or else it coincided with a visit from a Berlin dignitary. All up the broad avenue, flags fluttered from every post: the French tricolor and the red-yellow-black ensign of Germany. It was somewhat daunting to see this display of Franco-German unity, in the year of world defiance of America, and feel our small and American selves beneath it.
At the end of our long walk, we reached the Arc. We stood under it and looked up and around, and read what was engraved in marble and cast in bronze.
... more
Labels: Europe
