"Sergei recited a Pushkin poem in Russian while I recited a stanza by Racine from my French classical repertoire. Both of us, romantics at heart, were inebriated by the fresh air, the calm and the greenery surrounding us, and we decided to ride to a village where we could taste the local food and wash it down with beer for Sergei and tea for me."

"My sisters and I were keen on going for we had not yet met British soldiers or sailors – whom we noticed were much less aggressive in trying to pick up or meet women than their American counterparts."