A year ago on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, I drove southwest of Paris on a cold, cloudy day to visit the Circuit de Sarthe, the site of the annual 24 Hour Race at Lemans, France.
In a delightful coincidence I had just seen the movie "Ford v Ferrari" ("Lemans 66" was the title outside America) in a Paris theater. It is a great movie that was nominated for Best Picture.
When I arrived at the track, I hoped to walk the 8-mile circuit, but found in another delightful surprise, that there was a 24-hour race nearing it's end and I could watch an amateur competition at Lemans. I visited the museum and saw many laps of the race.
In another coincidence of timing the movie "Midway" debuted in theaters while I was on the trip. I saw both movies in their original format with French subtitles. With "Ford vs Ferrari" this gave me a chance for some French practice and some extra laughs with the translations of Carroll Shelby's Texan English.
In the movie "Midway" the Japanese sailors spoke in their own language, sometimes in complex speeches. The subtitles were, of course, in French. My French definitely got a workout trying to follow translated Japanese dialogue.
It is strange to think how much the world has changed in the past 12 months. No more movie theaters, the annual race at Lemans was delayed for months and who knows when I will travel across the ocean again.
But with all that, the memories are wonderful.
