In 1983 the tour company I worked at closed its doors. I quickly found another position with a company in Boston Massachusetts. They wanted a program manager who could reside and work in Europe without going through the necessity of applying for visas etc. They also wanted someone who was familiar with the culture etc. Since I had lived and worked in France and Germany an spoke four other languages including English Yiddish and rubbish, they hired me,

The company was headquartered in Boston. On Tremont street, there used to be a bar called Locke Ober’s. It was a popular watering hole.  Incidentally just up the street was the Parker House, a long time Boston establishment hotel . It is there many years ago the once leader of North Viet-nam, Ho Chi Mihn worked as a bus-boy in the restaurant clearing tables. But I digress. At Locke Ober’s was the famous picture of Mademoiselle Yvonne. well known as the Lady of Locke Ober. If you can read the inscription you’ll see it’s quite pleasant and perhaps thought provoking.

The Inscription:

Mademoiselle Yvonne

Demure despite her nudity

She gazes quite sans erudity

upon the skulls both thatched and bald

of patrons who are often called, great gourmets.

She’s not the lady of Shalott,

she’s what a wife is often not.

Watching the world come and go by without emotion,

She is the ideal of our dreams.