Avez-vous des œufs?

Avez-vous des œufs?  (ah-vay-voo-day-zuhf)

In September of 1943, the US government issued a French phrase book, designed for the Allied soldiers as they helped the free French forces and resistance fighters defeat the enemy.  The allies worked their way across France, starting at Normandy on the northwest coast, and eventually working eastward toward Belgium and on to Germany.  Often without adequate supplies, they carried the phrase books to farmhouses and villages hoping to negotiate a meal.  As I told my uncle of an upcoming trip to France, he asked me "Avez-vous des oeufs?"  It is a phrase he learned in Normandy long ago, and shared with me last night.

This blog is not about my uncle's time serving with the country's armed forces and fighting the good fight, as one of the greatest of the greatest generation.  But it is about hospitality and cultural exchange.  Perhaps it is about paying it forward, generations later.  I hope it is not hyperbole to say my upcoming trip to France would not be possible without the work of my uncle and his comrades in arms, who not only helped free France from the Nazis, but also helped strengthen American ties to the country across the sea with whom we already had a long history.  We need look no further than New York Harbor, where we see a gift from the people of France, given to us 60 years before D-Day in Normandy.  The Statue of Liberty may be the most American of icons, and yet she is undoubtedly French.

The first thing I would want to know when reading the first post of a new blog is, who are you and why should I read this?  There are a lot of answers, which I hope will all come out in future posts.  The short answer, which suffices for now, is that I am a travel enthusiast, an amateur musician, an armchair chef, and a novice writer.  I dabble in all the above, but the majority of my time is spent managing computer systems at a large real estate company in Chicago.  I suspect that you, the reader, are much the same - maybe accountants, teachers, students.  Let's just say that you and I are all Renaissance men and women, born 500 years too late.  We were never comfortable with the idea that people should have only one interest in life.  We are inspired by Leonardo da Vinci.  Like da Vinci's "Mona Lisa", I will be in France next week.  I'll bring you along -- stay tuned!