Gifts that keep on giving: INEXPLICABLY, it didn't make the news at the time, but Bill Clinton presented Jacques Chirac with a pair of handmade blue cowboy boots at the G8 summit in Denver back in 1997. Not many people know that. And even fewer care. But it gives you an idea of the truckloads of bizarre memorabilia that presidents and prime ministers accumulate.
For a closer look, the next time you’re in southwest France head for the village of Sarran, just off the N89 in Corrèze, and spend a hour or two in the Chirac museum. It’s quite a surreal experience.
Le Musée du Président Jacques Chirac was opened in 2000 at a cost to the taxpayer – French and European – of €4 million, and has since been doubled in size for an additional €7 million, similarly funded.
Its 3,000-plus exhibits are dutifully kept between 18 and 20 degrees. And the po-faced tour guides typically betray not a trace of humour about this extraordinary collection.
Start with the stuffed prehistoric fish presented to Chirac by the people of the Comoros Islands, in the Indian Ocean. There’s a chess set from South Africa, with Nelson Mandela featuring as the two kings, black and white, and Desmond Tutu playing all four bishops. There’s a New York Fire Department baseball cap, a present from Rudolph Giuliani. There’s a rugby ball signed by the French team that won the Grand Slam in 1997.
And there’s a wide assortment of diamond-and gold-encrusted gifts, mainly from the Gulf States. That’s just the start.
The Chiracs’ home, Château de Bity, is nearby, so you can call by after – and bring them a little something from Ireland.
** Musée du Président Jacques Chirac, Sarran, France, 00-33-5-55217777, www.museepresidentjchirac.fr
** Do you know of a hidden gem? E-mail us at go@irishtimes.com