Dinner with "my banker"

I was surprised to receive a call last night from Daniel, one of the men I met at Credit Agricole as I opened my account last week. Daniel’s English is quite excellent, he having lived in the US for a while. He asked if I was free for a drink or perhaps dinner that evening. My first thought was “no, I want to go to my hotel, leave me alone”, but my better angels recalled my ruminations on the wisdom of showing up, and I agreed to meet him for a drink. One drink became two, and two drinks became dinner. We had a very French meal at a small restaurant – the kind of place I would not have noticed, let alone entered, on my own. The food was terrific and the conversation was easy.

Later, we did a bit of sight-seeing about town, and Daniel explained something I had already noticed but failed to understand:

Last Sunday while walking home from dinner with six or seven other folks, I heard music coming from a down an alley which opened onto the street. Uncertain whether I was entering a private home, I entered the passage and crept forward as quietly as I could – the alley opened onto a beautiful courtyard, filled by beautiful poly-phonic choral music which I assumed was coming from a church or performance hall within. And to my further surprise, projected images appeared on one of the walls – medieval paintings of saints and angels. I was dumbfounded and enchanted by the music – I left the alley in search of the door to whatever chapel or receital hall lay on the other side of the courtyard – I circled the block but found nothing, I went back and sat on a bench in the courtyard, listening to the music – by now, other folks were coming and going and I no longer worried that I was trespassing. I sat there for twenty minutes relishing the music before finally heading home.

As it happened, Daniel took me to exactly the same spot a few nights later, explaining that Bourges puts on a “path of lights” each summer. The path is marked by blue lights overhead and in-laid into the street – and there are perhaps a dozen stops along the path and historical buildings in the center of town. And at each place, the same beautiful music is playing and similar images as projected on the walls.

Anyway, it’s a neat little tourist attraction, and I look forward to sharing it with Ceil and the kids.