Monday, November 23, 2009

Letter to a friend

Last Friday evening on the 1st floor of Café de l’Orient in Libourne, our friend José Ruiz presented the book written by his father Carlos Ruiz Garcia, published by Pleine Page : « Lettre à un ami » (letter to a friend).
His father, a Spanish Republican refugee in France in 1939 after "retirada" (see Wikipedia - as usual), was imprisoned in a concentration camps and wrote about his journey.
His son, who presented the book in Libourne, could barely contain his emotions, easy to understand why, and difficult for us to hold our own.
This book is worth reading, especially for those "blind", who believe that man is naturally good, and for those who experienced directly, or not, being exiled.
While reading of this book, a somewhat odd question came up to me, but what would have happened to Spain if the Republicans had won the civil war? Wouldn't the Germans Nazis have invaded this Spain? And… with imagination, one can rebuild the world.

We drank, paired with a very good paella, a series of the wines from Clos del Rey/Mas del Rey 2002 2003 2004 (the 2002 was remarkable, 2003 still a little hard and the 2004 will be very good in a few years) and a fruity Spanish wine made with Grenache, and a bit (actually too much) Carbonic gas: Baltasar 2003 (Magon), made in Calatayud and not expensive (Wineandco)

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