A delegation from Fort Worth’s newest sister city has wrapped up a ten day stay in town. Nimes, France is Fort Worth’s 9th sister city.

A Scaiaholic has been advocating the blog take on podcast form, and I did record an audio version of this story because I work at a radio station and also realized I may not have many opportunities to use a choir singing, “Deep in the Heart of Texas” and the French national anthem in the same piece.

The mayor of Nimes came to Fort Worth to sign the agreement. I was watching closely as the choir was singing. I did not see the mayor or Nimes’ cultural attache start clapping after “…are big and bright.” We have much to learn from each other.

During the ceremony, the mayor talked about what Nimes and Fort Worth have in common. Bulls, for instance.

Nimes is known for bull fighting, but someone from Nimes would be less familiar with rodeo like we have here. Bulls in Texas, he observed, also have bigger horns.

After the ceremony, the mayor, cultural attache and I talked through an interpreter. I was planning hilarious bon mot about the French surrendering to the cattle, but they went much deeper. 

The cultural attache says people from outside the country see Fort Worth’s cowboy culture as a symbol of liberty. The cattle drive represents our freedom. But he also applauded the city’s non-bull-related culture. The group was planning a trip to the Kimbell Art Museum to see Michelangelo’s earliest painting.

The mayor talked about the differences, too, saying a 150 year old building in Fort Worth would be one of the oldest in town. In Nimes, that’d be new.

The mayor and I may have spoken through an interpreter, but as a man of the world, I did conclude the interview in French.

“Merci,” I said, then turned to the interpreter. “Merci? Right? Merci.”