Okay, so over the summer I had the experience of a lifetime and traveled to Europe. I stayed first in France, then went over to Ireland before heading back home. I could say that the most memorable parts of the trip included the scenic mountains, or the different cuisine, but one moment stands out above the rest.
While in Lourdes, France, the family I traveled with and I decided to grab lunch at a little restaurant. We all had our food and had started eating when two gentlemen entered the restaurant and started talking quite loudly. Just ignoring them, we continued our meal and discussed our next plan. Just then, the pair of men made their way over to our table to strike up a conversation. A little confused, no one from our table jumped into the conversation, it was quite slow-going, especially since the conversation lasted a good ten minutes.
The gentlemen introduced themselves and alas I can only remember one being "John," also one was in a wheelchair and the other was standing. The other may have been "Michael," because I thought of Peter Pan while they were there. I don't know, though. They also announced they were from Birmingham! After asking the staple questions about where we were from and how we enjoyed France, they thought it was great that we were from Chicago. So, to get into the "chicagoan" mood, they started singing "Chattanooga Choo Choo." Close enough.
Thinking the conversation was dying down, they asked us our names to which we replied, "Caroline," "Katie," and "Natalie." Probably not in that order. Anyway...once we recited our names, the men started laughing exceedingly loud, deep laughs because the name, "Caroline," was the funniest name they had ever heard! They then declared that they liked Natalie the best of the three of us, then myself, then Katie. Alrighty.
The next part is what really gets me:
Once knowing our names, they asked for our ages. We replied and then they told us all that they were about 63 and could not wait to turn 64. Before we could ask why, the men burst out singing, "When I'm Sixty Four," loud enough for the people in the street to hear and the one standing actually started dancing a bit and the two men got through several verses and a few choruses before they forgot the words.
Shortly after the song ended, they talked to the parents for a bit, and then strolled out of the restaurant as if nothing had ever happened.
Here's a few pictures I took from Lourdes:
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