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In Paris I went visiting the museums on my own. I had been to the Louvre forty times. It is huge, how can one see it all? If I had a couple of hours I would see one part of it. My parents knew where I went and they did not object. I was 13-14 years old, but I went out alone. Also the parks were very beautiful. I went there with my mother and my brother. I never knew Paris by night, I did not wander around. The only thing that attracted me was the Louvre.
There was also a lending library near home where I also went. I borrowed a lot of books. This is natural if you care about culture. There was nothing else to do, anyway. There was no television, and I didn’t read the newspapers. The only entertainment was books, and for me personally the museums. My most favorite books were those of Montherlant [Henry, de (1896-1972): French novelist and dramatist] and of Romain Rolland [(1866-1944): French dramatist, essayist and art historian, received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915], whom I liked very much. I did not read much poetry; we read a lot of it in school. But I read Verlaine [Paul (1844-1896): French poet of the Symbolist movement] and some others.
When I returned to Thessaloniki, my friends were not impressed that I had come from Paris. Of course they asked me out of curiosity and interest, but this did not make me somehow special. Maybe I was different to them, but I didn’t feel it.
There was also a lending library near home where I also went. I borrowed a lot of books. This is natural if you care about culture. There was nothing else to do, anyway. There was no television, and I didn’t read the newspapers. The only entertainment was books, and for me personally the museums. My most favorite books were those of Montherlant [Henry, de (1896-1972): French novelist and dramatist] and of Romain Rolland [(1866-1944): French dramatist, essayist and art historian, received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915], whom I liked very much. I did not read much poetry; we read a lot of it in school. But I read Verlaine [Paul (1844-1896): French poet of the Symbolist movement] and some others.
When I returned to Thessaloniki, my friends were not impressed that I had come from Paris. Of course they asked me out of curiosity and interest, but this did not make me somehow special. Maybe I was different to them, but I didn’t feel it.
Period
Interview
Nico Saltiel