Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

The Rendez-vous Clandestine

Rendez-vous clandestin

 

A rendez-vous clandestine: A meeting between two lovers.

19, Place Carnot, Lyon at the Hotel Dobost.

Or at least that is what I thought when I saw the old receipt from

a restaurant in a pile of old papers at the brocante.

 

She met him

Dinner for two, 'tous les deux,' a romantic moment between two people.

Finding the receipt spurred such thoughts–

that is one of the joys of the brocante hunt:

To discover details that open the door to another time, connecting history to the present.

 

 

Restaurant menu france

 

The scene was set in my mind,

I could hear the wine poured as the gentleman touched his lips with his two fingers sending his lover a kiss; while she put her hand to her cheek, the waiter caught the wine bottle's drip, walking away, not noticing the transaction.

 

 

Receipt menu rendez vous

 

The table was set: Two wine glasses, white linen napkins folded, a pair of silverware side by side, and empty plates waiting to be filled.

 

 

Restaurant menu

 

The meal was the prelude to the evening to come.

 

Rendez vous secret

 

The old hotel receipt read:

Hotel Dubost

19, Place Carnot, Lyon

Telephone: Barre 5-46

Restaurant

Mr. Liuand No.# 29/30

Jan. 18th,

2 Dinners, 16 French Francs,

1 Bottle of red wine, 2 French francs

2 Cafes, 1,20

Jan. 19th,

A room for two nights, 20 French francs,

Two cocktails Suze, 2,50 French francs

Total: 41, 70 Ff

 

 

Note:

 

http://www.notrefamille.com/cartes-postales-photos/cartes-postales-photos-Place-de-la-Republique--Le-Monument-Carnot-LYON-69002-69-69382012-maxi.jpg

 

0a9-Place Carnot

I went online, typed in the receipt's address, and found some authentic 1900 images of the Place Carnot in Lyon.

________________________

 

A moment in time

 

As I plan to open my online brocante shop today:

Tongue in Cheek Antiques

I want to give this 1900s receipt to one of you as a thank you for following my blog.

If you are interested, please leave a comment below. I'll pick a random winner tomorrow.

Comments

59 responses to “The Rendez-vous Clandestine”

  1. Lily

    Hello Corey,
    I hope you are feeling allready a bit better. I love to visit your blog. You have a good eye for things. Love your stories, too.

    Reply
  2. Kathy

    Howdy-do Corey! I hope you are on the mend. Love this story and receipt. Don’t you love finding scraps of paper and then making up the story to go with it? There’s a website called FoundMagazine that is just that. Love reading what other people find as well. Take care.
    Kathy

    Reply
  3. deborah

    Hope, Hoping you are on the mend. And I must say I like your imagination!Having your brocante shop open will be good medicine for you, surely! =)

    Reply
  4. becky up a hill

    Lovely story and photographs Corey. On my way to Willows today. Thinking of you.

    Reply
  5. Leslie Curtin

    Though not in as bad as shape as you I too am wearing a wrist splint and pecking on my keyboard. My “American” husband and I visited Paris this summer and are in the process of putting together a memory board. The restaurant receipt would be a wonderful addition.. not our memories but someones memories.

    Reply
  6. Pat

    Corey,I know that during your time of limited movement, we will all benefit from your wisdom and reflection (and it’s ok to whine,vent and be profane once in a while too!). By the way, did you change the color of that great armoire in your kitchen? Hope not…be well…keep calm and carry on…Blessings

    Reply
  7. Beachy

    I love how your imagination soars with each and every artifact of the past you touch, Corey! You would have been fun to sit next to in school…. I can just imagine a teacher passing around a bag of treasures for each child to retrieve an object from without looking… then the students would have to each write an English paper about the object they pulled. You’d be the envy of the class with your paper!!! 😉 xo

    Reply
  8. AmanDUH

    How romantic… Everything in France is so much more WOW-inducing than anywhere else!

    Reply
  9. Kiki

    ohlala…. two coffees 1.20 (a fortune) AND a room…. The mind’s racing ahead…
    What a GREAT story – you’re probably right, or else this quittance would have disappeared a long time ago.
    But NON NON NON – sadly it wasn’t so romantic: It says 2 ROOMS (2 chambres – plural) – how sad and tragic! I so much liked your story much better than reality.
    Brilliant research too with the lovely photos you did in the ‘olden’ style and the stuff you found on the web. I had for about 10 years a framed receipt at a kitchen wall for two coffees from a very fabulous hotel in Zurich, Switzerland where I took my sister when she was heartbroken and wouldn’t take another step without breaking down….. I just took her into that wonderful place and we sat outside the main launch, quietly the two of us with our sinfully expensive coffee and two glasses of chilled water – she crying her torn heart out, and both of us listening to the pianist – an unforgettable experience. But sadly not one I would ever wish to re-live because nothing is more sad than seing a much beloved one going to pieces with grief.
    I would especially like to thank you for typing with one hand in a plaster – you REALLY think of us all the time. And MUCH HAPPINESS AND GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR BROCANTE 🙂
    Wishing you a wonderful weekend and speedy recovery
    ♥ and kisses
    ★ Kiki ☆

    Reply
  10. Brother Mathew

    Thanks for your blog!

    Reply
  11. Lorelei

    Ahhhh, Corey, what would I do without your imagination?
    This story is such a lovely way to start my morning as I sit here sipping my cafe and reading your daily blog. Be better soon.

    Reply
  12. Tracy

    Wonderful! Love the old photographs too of the locale of the rondezvous!

    Reply
  13. Cheryl ~ Casual Cottage Chic

    I love how you find something and imagine the history behind it 🙂 I would frame this reciept in a collage with other FR papers.

    Reply
  14. Susan young

    Nonono Kiki. It says a room for two nights, not two rooms ! So the romance continues! How I love this receipt and the images you created with words and images, Corey. Your mind is certainly working overtime even if your hand is not.
    If I won this receipt I would make one of French collages with it as the centerpiece, frame it and put it in my studio.
    Bonne chance à moi!!

    Reply
  15. Rhonda P.

    Every photo, every glove, every box, every book, all of the antique and vintage items I collect tell a story.
    Because you are a romantic at heart, this receipt spoke volumes to you. Isn’t that what it’s all about?
    Have a fabulous day our Brocante Queen.

    Reply
  16. Deborah

    What a lovely story and pictures to bring it to life. Maybe they had 2 rooms as a cover – two adjoining rooms because they had to keep their liaison a secret ! Delicious!!
    Hope you’re doing well. happy that your imagination isn’t broken!

    Reply
  17. Marilyn

    Please pass this dream along to me. It is so sweet to read your dreams.

    Reply
  18. katiebell

    moi?

    Reply
  19. somepinkflowers

    if this
    old hotel receipt
    became my very own {{!!}}
    my feet would happy~dance
    and
    the romantic story would continue
    on
    and
    on
    and
    on
    inside my creative head
    and my longing heart…

    Reply
  20. Jennie

    Deux chambres – #29, #30 Dommage! Peut-etre c’est un pere et sa fille.

    Reply
  21. missy

    I still have the fading receipt from
    the honeymoom suite at the Grand Canyon
    how amazing to look at a slip of
    paper and be transported instantly…
    thanks for this ‘flight’ on gossamer wings!!
    missy from the bayou

    Reply
  22. Merisi in Vienna

    I have the fondest memories of dining in Lyon, albeit at the Brasserie Georges (and with my daughter G). It was my first dinner in France ever. I still dream of their dessert, “Mousse au chocolat au lait et au caramel au beurre salé”. I shall return to Lyon one day, such a beautiful city!

    Reply
  23. Violet Cadburry

    Perhaps it was a receipt of the dinner enjoyed by Inspector Japp and Hercule Poirot, who were discussing a most disturbing piece of evidence from the recently committed crime of murder of a well-known can-can dancer at the Folies Bergeres, who was found with a stilleto shoe heel stuck in her neck…but it couldn’t have been suicide because the shoe was not her size! Alors, off to bed.

    Reply
  24. Kimberly C.

    Ahh. That would be so fun to add to the wall in my home. I love french. I love Paris. I love the Eiffel Tower. I love being there.
    So sorry you had a fall. I hope that your wrist will return to it’s normal capabilities. <3

    Reply
  25. Stella

    Here’s an idea for a book: stories inspired from letters or other bits from the brocante! With pictures, of course!

    Reply
  26. Kathie B

    I don’t see a year noted on the receipt. Based on the prices, can anyone estimate when this transaction occurred?
    Internet search reveals the Hôtel Dobost still in operation in Lyon at the same address, so I’d like to nominate as recipient whoever is likeliest to go to the hotel in order to research the receipt. The hotel might even want a local reporter to cover the story, as it’d certainly be good publicity!
    Alternatively — not that you’re likely to know this, Corey (LOL!) — but perhaps someone else here does: Is there a Gallic equivalent of PBS’s “The History Detectives” (one of my favorite shows) on TV in France, where a Francophone Elyse, Gwen, Wes, Tukufu or Eduardo could track down the story behind the receipt?

    Reply
  27. Kathie B

    Oui! Oui! Oui!
    A succession of unrelated short stories, or of linked ones, or a novel where all the ephemera wind up being connected to the plot?

    Reply
  28. denise

    the brocante is open,yeah! haven’t looked yet,but will. i am building up the suspense and something to look forward to. take care of that wrist and good sales to you. oh,and enter me for the drawing. Bestest,Denise

    Reply
  29. Kathie B

    Or perhaps it was a vengeful suicide, where she used the shoe of the rival who stole her beloved in order to implicate the *witch* from beyond the grave.

    Reply
  30. Erin Perry

    Ooo, just time to leave a comment and then to shop!!
    Erin in Morro Bay

    Reply
  31. Carol L

    Corey….you are truly a romance magnet and the “grand poo-pah” keeper of the flame. Love this slice of romance…..
    Hope you are mending well.
    Carol

    Reply
  32. Marie-Noëlle

    Hotel Dobost is the closest hotel to one of the 2 main railway stations (Perrache) of Lyon. Very convenient !
    Place Carnot is in one of the oldest districts of Lyon, in what we call “la presqu’île”, as it stands where the river Rhône and the river Saône meet.
    I recommend Lyon to everybody !!! A very attractive town !!!
    (To Kiki : 1,20 FF for 2 coffees is not expensive.
    Depends on the year…)
    LONGING FOR LYON !!!!!!!!!!!!
    Lots of love to you, Corey !

    Reply
  33. Mahala

    I love visiting here…I never know what to expect! Yours is the first blog I visit and often the only blog I visit. I hope you heal quickly!

    Reply
  34. Kara

    what a neat find. however, I don’t think any of my receipts will look that cute in 50 yrs or so! lol! thanks for sharing–such pretty “story” pics!
    xo
    k

    Reply
  35. Emily McGriff

    Corey, You are such a romantic soul. Your imagination came up with a delightful story to compliment the receipt! Someone had such special memories from that evening.
    ~Emily
    The French Hutch

    Reply
  36. Jeannie

    They were a young couple sneaking away for a weekend tour. He would be leaving soon for a tour abroad. His parents insisted that he must take over the family vineyard. He wanted to be an artist. She was his muse. To keep up pretenses, they booked two rooms, but the maid new that only one was used. They would spend the day, hand in hand, touring Lyon. He would sketch her in romatic spots, hoping to be able to paint her as his wife one day. Their last weekend together before he left.

    Reply
  37. Laura

    Oh, Corey,
    Today’s post sounds more like the “real” (healthy, non-aching) you! I love how you weave the story into the photographs and into our minds – how skilled you are!
    So happy your on-line shop is open once again. “Merci beaucoup!” to all the helpers.

    Reply
  38. Kathie B

    Maybe it’s the couple’s last chance together before he heads off to the battlefront in WW I. Will he return, and if so, safely — and if so, will they reunite? Stay tuned for next week’s episode…

    Reply
  39. Annie v.

    hello Corey
    I love your imagination but looking closely at the name:” Monsieur Liaund” he may be the culprit, lover whatever… now are there still names like that in the phone book, I am such a trouble maker, but perhaps it is better to let sleeping dogs lie….

    Reply
  40. Kathie B

    You’re not into genealogy, are you? :-)))

    Reply
  41. Helen

    I was drawn to this wonderfully romantic receipt as January 19th is my birthday! I can feel such romance in the air too Corey. I can imagine myself there, and those days and nights would be etched into my soul, never to be forgotten. He kept this receipt all his life, remembering our short time together, and me….

    Reply
  42. Laurie

    Hi Corey,
    Love the romance and that you are back to your magic. So sorry to hear of your fall-working late at night is always the best though isn’t it? Take care. Laurie

    Reply
  43. Marilyn

    I read your blog every day and everyday I am amazed at the beauty of your photography. I hope someday you will be able to publish a book. I may never be fortunate enough to visit France in person, but I can still do so (just a little bit) by reading your blog and seeing your incredible pictures.
    That little hotel tab must have been very dear to someone to have saved it for so many years. I imagine an old woman taking it out of hiding every year on that date to reminise about that weekend so many years ago. Now she is gone….but a piece of her memory lives on, if only in our imagination.

    Reply
  44. Shirley

    I hope you are better. Please heal soon so that you can get out there and find more really great stuff.
    Shirley

    Reply
  45. carol

    You whisked me away, again. They had dinner on my daughter’s birthday…You have the best imagination!!!
    All these years, someone has saved this memory in a box. Oh to know more…
    Hope your a feeling better. 🙂
    Thank you for blogging through it all! You are quite a trooper!

    Reply
  46. Kathie B

    Perhaps the receipt is for a couple’s wedding night. Or for when they conceived a child… Either of those scenarios could explain why the receipt was kept.

    Reply
  47. michael

    like everyone else these days in the states, i get mail addressed to ‘or current occupant’, but i’ve never thought of myself as ‘random winner’. well, maybe my horizons will broaden.
    meanwhile, it was lovely of you to give those diners long ago a romantic interlude, and cheeky to tell on them, but fun to read.
    does mlle annie know you gossip? m

    Reply
  48. Laurie in San Francisco

    ‘A moveable feast is a memory or a state of being that had become a part of you, a thing that you could always have with you, no matter where you went or how you lived forever after, that you could never lose. An experience first fixed in time and space or a condition like happiness or love could be afterward moved or carried with you wherever you went in time or space.’
    -Hemingway
    Beautiful post, Corey.

    Reply
  49. Tongue in Cheek

    Bonjour MN
    I hoped you would add some depth to the story as you are from Lyon! I am so glad you did.
    c

    Reply
  50. Tongue in Cheek

    Hi V
    Oh la la!
    C

    Reply
  51. Tongue in Cheek

    Hi J
    Or a simple cover up.
    C

    Reply
  52. Karen C

    All I could think to say was “Me?”
    But I see Katiebell thought first.
    I hope she wins.

    Reply
  53. Tongue in Cheek

    HI B
    I was voted most goofiest in Junior High…. Sitting by me in class meant trouble.
    C

    Reply
  54. mary

    Corey
    I just want to say that I was so sad to hear that you broke your bones….hopefully they mend soon Thanks for being such a beautiful soul
    I love reading your blog…I look forward everyday
    You are in my thoughts and prayers
    xoMary

    Reply
  55. Wendy Wainwright

    Dear Corey, so sorry to hear about your fall and thank you for all the inspiration … and this lovely piece of history that you would like to give to one of your followers. I loved how you wove the story of romance around it … it transported me for just a moment into bliss! Get well soon and take care.

    Reply
  56. Marie-Noëlle

    Bonjour Corey !!!
    I could not miss it !?!
    I want to add that the 2 had “apéritifs”, as I could read “2 Suze – 2,50 FF” on the receipt.
    And Suze is one of my favourite apéritifs.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suze_%28drink%29
    While brocanting, you might have seen some of the many yellow bar goodies with the name of the trade on them, such as pitchers or ash trays … etc …
    Linking you to some of those :
    http://www.chineureka.com/img/p/126-183-thickbox.jpg
    http://www.mamie-bibelot.com/local/cache-vignettes/L467xH350/anisette044-92ffa.jpg
    http://images-01.delcampe-static.net/img_large/auction/000/095/000/574_001.jpg?v=1
    All those goodies could be seen in every single French bistrot.
    Preparing apéritif right now… and realizing we have no Suze !!!
    Thinking of you ….
    Cheers !

    Reply
  57. Brenda, Walker, LA, USA

    Dear Corey!
    Loved loved loved your research on the old receipt! Very often, my own research into old things I find sets me off onto a new theme for my shop! I also found out that “Get Well Soon” translates the same on French or Enlish! Treat your self well, God only created one of you!!!
    Brenda, Kindred Hearts Antiques!

    Reply
  58. marlis

    Loved your story.. OMG.. and the one where He cooks! Wouldn’t this receipt be cute stuck in the mirror in the guest bath? Or peeking out under glass on a tray? So many wonderful idea.. thanks for the gracious giveaway.. hugs and best wishes for continued recovery.. 🙂

    Reply
  59. liannallama

    It’s been so long since I visited your blog–I feel as if I have been missing an old friend! Thanks for the touch of France to add something lovely to my evening!

    Reply

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