Paul Bocuse Being Decorated By Valery Giscard D'Estaing.

I think I was in Paris when this happened. There was a lot of grumbling by the chefs in Paris that there were no Parisian chefs  being honored.
I do know that I was in Paris and living close to the Arc de Triomphe when Mitterrand was elected President and Giscard was defeated. One afternoon after the election Giscard showed up at the Arc to thank his supporters just as I was there. He was a very tall , aristocratic and imposing figure. The crowd spontaneously broke into a rendition of La Marseillaise that was touching to say the least, it almost brought tears to my eyes. One of those moments in life.  I was only a few feet away from him and I could see that he was very moved.
A few weeks before the election Mitterand and his shadow cabinet came for lunch in the Hotel restaurant. The socialist party was having a convention there. It was Sunday and all the department heads were  off for the day.   I was the only person in charge and we took care of him and his cabinet. Unfortunately the Maitre d'Hotel was also off that day and his assistant was so eager to get down to his Maison de Campagne. that Mittereand and his cabinet were given bad service and complained the next day. The Maitre d'Hotel got written up and almost fired.
When the chef , Monsieur Brazier, came in the next day I told him what happened  and he said " well, he could be the next President of France'. And sure enough he was a few weeks later.