Red wine & Russians

This weekend I went with my best friend Anna to her father and new bride's Christmas party.  Upon arrival, there were several unfamiliar faces, with only a handful of people we knew.  After saying hello to her father, we made our way to the cocktail area. 

I was feeling kind of  dehydrated and she was feeling very sleepy.  There were so many different liquors and liqueurs, we found ourselves overwhelmed with the options.  Now I know from experience that I don't like liqueurs...

..so I attempted to hydrate with a bottle of water, and snacked on some appetizers.  Before long, Anna had a full glass of red wine, Pinot Noir maybe?, at my finger tips and I began engaging in conversation with two older Russian friends of her father's.  I had met one of them before at Anna's father's wedding a few months earlier.  It's appropriate to say that they definitely had a head start on the wine.  We found ourselves going from 2003 to 2007 in our wine glasses and the conversation was sprinkled with many "cheers" by them, in which you had to make eye contact, unless you wanted to be called out for it.   

The conversations we had were flattering and fascinating at the same time, but the best thing they left me was a song I hadn't heard in years called 'Nathalie'.  It's very beautiful and you can't help but imagine yourself sitting in a cafe in Paris (Pa-ree) sipping on a luxurious hot chocolate.  The lyrics tell a lovely story and I can now listen to the song over and over as I have found it on YouTube and I am very hopeful to find an old record with the song on it as well.  After you hear it, know that hearing those Russians sing "Nathalie..." will never leave me, ha ha ha...

The video is below, but here are the lyrics:

Nathalie

ARTIST GILBERT BECAUD

Red Square was white

The snow made a carpet

And I followed, through this cold Sunday

Nathalie

She spoke in serious phrases

Of the October Revolution

Meanwhile, I was thinking

That after Lenin's tomb

We would go to the Pushkin cafe

To drink hot chocolate

Red Square was empty

I caught her by her arm, I smiled at her

She had blond hair, my guide

Nathalie

In their apartment at the university

A gang of students

Were impatiently expectant

We joked and laughed a lot

They wanted to know everything

Nathalie translated

Moscow, the plains of the Kremlin

And the Champs Elysees

We got them all mixed up

And we sang

And then they were opening-

And we were laughing in anticipation of it-

Some French Champagne

And we danced

And when the flat was empty

All the friends were departed

I was left with just my guide 

Nathalie

No more questions, sober phrases

Nor October Revolution

I am no longer there with her

Finished, Lenin's tomb

The chocolate in 'Pushkin'

It is-it was-long before

As my life seems empty to me

Still I know that one day in Paris

It is I who will serve as her guide

Nathalie

Nathalie 

Au revoir, Natalie