French Feast, British Banquet

About the Book

Brendan Robinson, 74, a widower and retired high school English teacher, begins a week-long escorted bus tour of Paris and northern France, one of 30 Americans, mostly non-Jewish. He is accompanying his youngest brother Martin, 61, his sister-in-law Kirsten, 63 (they will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary in Paris next Friday, June 18, 1999), and Kirsten's oldest sister, Elsa Brown, 72, a wealthy widow whose husband had owned thousands of acres of land in Montana.

Kirsten and Elsa never had children. Brendan has four children, nine grandchildren, and a great-grandson. His main motivation for this tour is to visit (perhaps for the last time) the grave of a school friend, buried in the American Cemetery in Normandy. When the other three return home in a week, he will travel to London for a week of theaters, museums, and visits with friends.

In the 1930s when the Robinson men's father owned a bakery in north Philadelphia, they were the only Jews in an exclusively Gentile neighborhood. Elsa and Kirsten Schmidt's father was a rabid Nazi and Jew-hater, a traveling salesman who forbid his family from associating with the Robinsons. When he was traveling in western Pennsylvania for several weeks at a time, he could not control his family's behavior. Brendan and Elsa were playmates. He love her in his juvenile way, but she considered him just another boy.

In June 1942, several months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor December 1941, Brendan started college, put in four semesters before being drafted into the Navy, sent to the Pacific battle area, and discharge Mary 1946, after the war was over. In September 1942, Franz returned to Germany (his wife refused to return with the girls), joined the Reichstag army, and a year later was accidentally killed by a fellow officer. For several reasons, Brendan did not see Elsa again after he stared college until the wedding of Martin and Kirsten in Philadelphia in 1969. And then not again till this tour.

During the first day or so in Paris, Elsa is uncomfortable, unsure, but aware that she cannot team up with her sister, who wants to be alone with her husband. During her married life in Montana, Elsa did no traveling (except for a few business trips with her husband to Chicago) and had no cultural or night-life experiences of any kind. Since his wife's death in 1989 and his retirement in 1991, Brendan has traveled extensively throughout all of western Europe, France twice before, London 10 times before. He often drives to New York for Broadway shows, Metropolitan opera, and museums.

The tour guide is Bernie Winkler, originally from New York, so his English is easily understandable. He is well-versed in all the towns and sights visited and all the gourmet dinners and wines served. Breakfasts at every hotel is buffet and ample and delicious. Lunches are not included. On the first bus ride to dinner in Montmartre, Brendan and Elsa sit together. Some seats in the 40passenger bus are empty, but it would be awkward and hard to explain if they sat alone.

As they walk through Sacre Coeur church, Elsa doesn't want to talk about their childhood. In the next few days, she becomes less guarded and more open. The first dinner, featuring the best onion soup they ever tasted, anticipates a week of superb dinners.

During the first full day of touring the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Elsa is caught up in this new adventure, as well as her first exposure to tart during an afternoon tour of Giverny, the home of Claude Mont, over an hour from Paris. Although still not certain what to expect, Elsa is enjoyably surprised by the dinner show at Moulin Roughe, beautiful topless young women and handsome flamboyant young men. When Brendan tells her that he will go to shows and visit Notting Hall in London (which she saw in the movies), she expresses a desire to stay in Europe another week with Brendan.

During the visits to Mont St. Michel and its abbey an

About the Author

Born in Philadelphia in 1926, earned a B.A. from Penn State in 1948 and an N.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1949. He taught English in high school and Penn State until retirement in 1992.