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© The
original text in English by Linda Compagnoni
Walther
We
know from Juliette Benzoni's books about
the dashing Venetian prince, expert on
historic precious stones, that whenever Aldo
Morosini visits Zürich, Switzerland, (where
his father-in-law resides on the Goldenküste)
he will go to Paradeplatz and enter the
prominent
Confiserie Sprüngli to stock
up with a large quantity of that proudly
cherished delicious specialty, for his family, beautiful
wife Lisa, delightful aunt Amélie,
Marquise de Sommičres and her companion
Marie-Angéline du Plan-Crépin and himself.
As all
the passionate readers of the adventures of his
Excellency Prince Aldo Morosini,
(a world-renowned antiquarian dealer) know: our
hero loves chocolates! Not just any chocolates -
oh no - he loves Swiss chocolates from the
Confiserie-Sprüngli
-
whom he calls repetitive the best
chocolate in the world!
On my
very first invitation to Saint-Mandé
in
2009 with my friend Frédérique and my daughter
Claudia, we reflected with what we could
surprise our favorite Author and her daughter
Anne. I decided that as being from
Switzerland we would bring with us a lovely box
from Sprüngli and Frédérique being from
Reims, a sparkling bottle of Champagne
and the delicious Rose biscuits from
Fossier!
The adorable Juliette
loved the Rose Biscuits and she
adored Sprüngli's chocolates! Splendid...
without knowing it, we had chosen
the perfect souvenir!
My
article would now be finished, if I had
not started to read last year the adventures of
Juliette's favorite hero Aldo Morosini
from Venice! Besides that I fell in love
with her smart adventurous hero, I was more and
more amused to learn that our dearest friend
Juliette, had her passion for that heavenly
chocolate (of course as a good Swiss it is
also my favourite), embedded in the Morosini
adventures! Each time I reached a page where
my hero Aldo enters Sprüngli, I chuckled
to myself being very much amused -
and thus the daring idea entered my
head...! What if I called the Confiserie
Sprüngli and told them about the famous
Romancičre Juliette Benzoni? The beloved author
of million of readers and her hero's passion for
their exquisite chocolates? What if I
suggested to them, how immense the joy would be
of Juliette Benzoni, if she received from
Sprüngli a delicious little surprise? (I said to myself - did not Juliette since
1994 - 2012 do some kind of free publicity
for that famous brand?)
Guet... (well...) as we say in Swiss-German,
let's pretend I am Mina Van Zelden or
Angélina - would they be afraid to enter that
famous Confiserie and ask to talk to the
Manager to explain my unusual request
? But of course not (and by the way, I love
impossible missions ☺ !)
I will not bore you of
my first visit to the beautiful boutique
Sprüngli, holding in my hand a copy of one
of the Aldo Morosini books - trying in
vain to sell my idea to a female employee! I was treated
very courteously - and out I was of the
Confiserie with a business card, advising me
to send my request by mail!
I went
home and started to write my email, almost a
short novel to explain my request - sending
a scan of an entry of one of the chocolate
texts from the Morosini adventures - my personal dedication in La
chimčre d'or des Borgias plus using all my
charm to seduce whoever was responsible, to send
our Juliette a box of chocolates of their
choice !
No sooner said than done - off my mail went - to
wait for the impossible!
And... the miracle happened - or let us
say... after a few detours ☺ ! I received a
phone call from the director's secretary of
the CEO of Sprüngli, a charming lady,
who confirmed to me that "why certainly
would they send Madame Benzoni" a « Birthday surprise
» from the celebrated Confiserie!
On 30 October 2012 while we were guests at
Saint-Mandé, to celebrate Juliette's 92nd birthday, a smiling Juliette looked at me and
said: "Linda, do you know anything about this",
pointing to a small table and showing us the
beautiful exclusive chocolate box of the
Confiserie Sprüngli ! But not enough,
reading to us the card with the birthday wishes
of the director of Sprüngli!
That
alone was already sensational in my eyes, but
that Frau Howald had seen to it that our
Aldo Morosini's name was also on the
birthday card, left me speechless and very
moved! What a happy-ending. ☺
p.s 1.I
end my report with one last anecdote,
Frau Howald outed herself as a reader of
Juliette Benzoni's books!
2.
Confiserie Sprüngli is a Swiss luxury
confectionary manufacturer founded in 1836.
Not to be confused with Lindt & Sprüngli
!
April 2013 : © Artwork Evelyne
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