STL DPB ON THE ROAD - FROM ST. LOUIS TO PARIS

We went to the Pantheon yesterday, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panth%C3%A9on, the temple to the memory of those who France considers its most important citizens, and found the cenotaph of Josephine Baker, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_Baker. Born in St. Louis, she was a singer, dancer and actress of extraordinary talent. She left the U.S. for France because of racism and became a huge star and a French citizen. She played a significant role for the resistance in World War II, receiving many civilian and military honors. She has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame but this monument is more moving.

And in case you've been wondering, we have been eating well. 

This afternoon: Louvre Madness.                   

FROM ST. LOUIS TO THE PANTHEON

On Tuesday, St. Louis native Josephine Baker was symbolically interred in the French Pantheon, the final resting place of the nation's most revered dead. She grew up with poverty and discrimination. After some successes in entertainment here and in New York, she traveled to France and a stellar career on the stage and in film. She later became a leader of the Resistance and, it is said, a spy. Charles de Gaulle made her a Chevalier of the Legion d'honneur. After her death, she was interred in Monaco. This week, she was, in a sense, laid to rest in the Pantheon in a symbolic casket containing soil from various locations that Baker had lived, including St. Louis, Paris, the South of France and Monaco. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_Baker           

Our loss, France's gain.