January 15, 2010

La Fête des Rois

After letting the visit of the French President finally sink in, we resumed work and started the hunt again. We went deeper into Normandy on Thursday and came across a gold mine of 19th century oil paintings. Here is some of the incredible artwork we found.

That night, we were invited to a dinner with some our favorite “antiquaire” friends to celebrate the “Fête des Rois.” This Catholic holiday marking the visit of the three kings to Bethlehem is officially on January 6 but is observed throughout the whole month in France. The celebration always includes a king’s cake, which is baked with a small trinket inside that, if found in your slice, pronounces you king or queen for the evening.

After several courses of dinner, our hosts brought out the king’s cake and proceeded to cut as many pieces as there were guests. According to tradition, they made me (Alexander) turn my back since I was the youngest person at the table. I was then asked to call out the guests’ names one at a time as they passed out the slices. When I turned around to eat my cake, everyone was grinning. Needless to say, the trinket ended up in my slice and I was declared king. We had a wonderful evening and enjoyed the invitation into our friends’ lovely antique-filled home.