Our move to France from the US a decade ago was never politically motivated; it was more about practicality. We’d been vacationing here for 30 years, although it was really a rehearsal of living here: renting apartments/houses, shopping in local markets, using public transportation, practicing French conversations. Round-trip flights, one year it was even four times, was money (and time) that could be spent on our own place in this country. We hadn’t really thought much about the other dollar amounts covering housing, food, health insurance, gasoline, etc. that clearly impact daily living. A newspaper article about Americans living overseas and contemplating going back addressed that very issue.

If you saw the movie Monuments Men, you may remember that it tells the story of art historians, curators, and museum directors during World War II who set out to rescue and preserve works of art and cultural artifacts stolen by the Nazis. They were in a race against Hitler’s “Nero Decree” that ordered the destruction of anything of value to prevent it from falling into Allied hands. This collection of civilians from 13 different countries, generally not trained as soldiers, worked side-by-side with the military to locate, protect, and recover the looted treasures. We knew that the film was based on true events but we had no idea that our own local Fine Arts museum was connected with the restoration and repatriation effort.