From a Small Town to the Big World by Boehm Norman;Ziolkowska-Boehm Aleksandra;

Author:Boehm, Norman;Ziolkowska-Boehm, Aleksandra;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Hamilton Books
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

An Exciting Invitation

The excitement of visiting Paris was understandable for any bachelor, but I had a particular incentive: I had been invited to visit my famous cousin actress Ingrid Bergman and her husband Roberto Rossellini, the famous Italian movie director. I had first met her earlier as a boy of twelve years or so when she performed in the play “Liliom” on the New York stage. My father drove into the city from my hometown of Washington, New Jersey to collect her and her one and one half years old daughter Pia who then spent a weekend with my family. I was not above telling all my friends that my famous Swedish cousin was visiting us. How did I become so fortunate to have such a famous relative? Her father Justice Bergman was the brother of my paternal grandmother Blenda. So, this made Ingrid and my father first cousins, and she and I first cousins once removed (this definition of the genealogy was given to me by Bob Ryrholm’s wife Anita). I was treated royally by Ingrid and Rossellini: gourmet meals both French and Italian, a high-speed spin around Paris late at night in Rossellini’s Ferrari, cocktails at the home of the famous painter Jean Renoir, front row table at the Lido nightclub. This was four days that I will never forget! How were Vienna and Munich? Both cities are beautiful, but at that time, a portion of Vienna was still scarred by the Russian occupation. In Munich, I did meet a wonderful “bierstube” owner named Bauer who had spent many years in Egypt and spoke fluent Arabic. In Munich, the weather was horrible . . . it rained everyday for four days, but I managed to keep my spirits up with good food, beer and wine and nightclub visits although I had hoped to be able to make at least one trip into the Bavarian Alps.

Back in Saudi Arabia after my memorable vacation, I was advised that I would be transferred to the General Office Engineering Department who needed someone with Refinery experience. I did not consider myself any kind of expert with only three years exposure to refinery operations (it was now late 1953/early 1954), however, someone smarter than I must have thought otherwise. The main function of this assignment was to act as a liaison between engineering services performed in The Hague, Netherlands, engineering in Dhahran and the customer of these services the Ras Tanura Refinery.

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