We frequently pass by our "first address" in Bordeaux, the Grand Hôtel
Français on the rue du Temple. It was a few days ago that I was walking
by and was reminded of that September 11th we spent in Bordeaux. The day
before an important meeting, we were sitting on a café terrace when the
waitress came out and told people, "100,000 people just died in an
terrorist attack in New York!" Sitting on this sunny peaceful patio, it
didn't seem real. During the day, more details came out and were
reported on kiosk newspaper headlines, correcting the death toll to
"over 1,000". When we returned to the hotel in the evening, CNN was on
in the lobby and although there were few Americans in the hotel, all
eyes were on that screen. The images of planes flying into buildings
were chilling, even as they were looped all night.
 
What I remember most though about this was not the event itself but the
next day when every person I met expressed their shock and sympathy in
the most sincere way. I try to imagine a reverse situation where a
French person would be meeting business people in New York, and I wonder
if the people in New York would know much or care about such an event as
the subway bombings in Paris, or Madrid or Tokyo. If they did, I wonder
if they would make it a point to open the meeting with heartfelt
condolences.