“I must confess to you that this event here tonight was due to a small ‘coup d’état’,” Patrick Maisonave said humorously as he greeted us at the brightly lit French embassy in Athens last Thursday evening. “Together with German Ambassador Ernst Reichel, we decided to support the initiative of an association formed by spouses and partners of ambassadors living in Athens. And so I provided the residence of the ambassador, so that today there would be a beautiful defile in the traditional costumes of the Greek lyceum.” The organization was led by Anne Decrey Reichel, the outgoing president of the association, and Nadia Sartaoui Maisonave (who is also the cultural attache of the French embassy) with the aim of making the great lyceum, founded in 1911, more widely known in the diplomatic world by Callira Parrin. And, of course, their idea was completely successful!

Many diplomats passed through the threshold of Vasilisa Sophia’s mansion with their soul mates, including Briton Matthew Lodge, Australian Ambassador to Greece Arthur Spearow, Cypriot Kyriakos Kenevezos and others. Foreign Minister Daphne Dendia’s wife also made her “gift” for an additional (than obvious) reason: Nikos Dendia’s sister, Hara, is the general director of the Lyceum of Greek Girls and has contributed a lot over the years. Lyceum President Eleni Tsaldari – with an amazing antique silver buckle on his waist, inherited from his grandfather – together with Katerina Daskalaki made sure that everything was ready for the 12 boys and girls in uniforms to leave.

Before the start of the fashion show, the French Ambassador emphasized that this is the best occasion to highlight the role of fellow diplomats with whom they share their lives and very often go through the same difficult program and go through the same difficulties without attributing patience or support to themselves. . Everyone certainly enjoyed the evening, and the Epirote, Thessalian, Thracian and Carpathian costumes overshadowed everyone, gracefully put on by the wonderful volunteers of the dance group of the Lyceum. Of course, there was one exception, when the eyes of the guests were distracted from headdresses, fustanels, skillfully embroidered skirts: the delightful kimono worn by the wife of the Japanese ambassador Yasunori Nakayama was pleasing to the eye. The description of each outfit in English was very lively by the vice-president of the lyceum Maria Passa Kotu, who is also a guide.

But how did this cooperation between the Lyceum and the association come about: “From the first years of its activity, the Lyceum had a department of international relations, which, among other things, helped the wives of new ambassadors in Athens to settle in Greece. with many practical questions such as eg. schools for their children. Over the years, this has faded away, as all procedures have become easier. But we thought we wanted to strengthen our relations with foreign diplomats again. And in a miraculous way, Mrs. Reichel and Maisonave approached us for this event at the initiative of the head of the French Institute, Nikos Christodoulou.” The little heroine of the evening was the musician Angelica Pardalis, who, although she got into a small car accident on the way to the event, pulled herself together and played the santuri very beautifully.

Reporting lesson

This is a great read for today’s young aspiring journalists in the age of social media. Because the new book by Nikos Gatsoyannis, a charismatic writer and master typist for major US publications, is an exemplary lesson in reporting and research, often under adverse conditions and without the help of modern technology. His book Messages from the Homeland (published by Kastaniotis) reflects the fascinating responses he gave to Greece from 1969 to 2022. All the “protagonists” of public life are represented, from junta exiles to Athena Onassis, Andreas Papandreou, Alexis Tsipras, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, as well as major events such as the dismantling of 17N and the Athens Olympics. The book was presented on Monday in Athens. Antonis Samaras, Kostas Bakoyannis, Alexis Papachelas and Nicolas Gage himself performed.