FRENCHWOMAN ENJOYS MEETING N.Z. FAMILY

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28983, 26 August 1959, Page 2

FRENCHWOMAN ENJOYS MEETING N.Z. FAMILY

“I was invited to sit by a New Zealand fireside and to talk with a New Zealand family in their home, and for this I am very grateful, said Mrs Anne-Marie Giguet. a charming Frenchwoman, describing her experiences on Sunday when she went on an excursion to Arthur's Pass and was afterwards invited to spend the evening in a New Zealand home.

Mrs Giguet was only here for the week-end and had intended to tour the glaciers, but when she found there were no trips to the West- Coast she decided to take the Sunday excursion' to Arthur's Pass to see something of New Zealand’s famed Southern Alps. Mrs Giguet would not comment on the behaviour of the teenagers on the excursion, but said, referring to young people all over the world: “They have twice as much as we had when we were young, yet it is not enough for them. I think, perhaps, that it is too much."

For six months of the year Mrs Giguet lives in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris, and for the other half cf the year she moves to Geneva, where she has her second home. Her husband travels between the two houses once each vOeek because of his work as president of the Westinghouse International Atomic Power organisation in Geneva. He is at present travelling in the United States and Mrs Giguet will be reunited with him in October.

She said yesterday that she knew she would not have much opportunity of seeing him while he was touring in America and so decided to take an extended round-the-world trip. Countries Visited After leaving Paris in May. Mrs Giguet visited Persia, India, Pakistan, Ceylon. Tahiti and New Caledonia, and will travel to Australia, Indonesia. Malaya. Thailand, Hong Kong. Japan and Hawaii, before going to America. On previous trips Mrs Giguet has toured Africa and has vivid memories of taking the first organised camel rides for tourists in the Sahara mountains after the war.

“We directed the camels by putting our feet on their necks and pressing hard,” she said. "During the day it was pleasant, but at night we froze. I have never been so cold.” An American photographer and journalist also made the journey and Mrs Giguet's photograph appeared in "Life" magazine. Mrs Giguet was entranced by

Tahiti and has the fondest memories of the month she spent there. "There is something especial about the people," she said. “They are so friendly and graceful. They are always smiling and talk of pleasant things. I remember the colour of the lagoon, the palm trees and the scented flowers. When I took my leave I was covered with leis from here”—indicating her nose—“to here”— pointing to her waist.

New Zealand reminds Mrs Giguet of Norway, Switzerland.' Normandy and the cote d’Azure. She is a wise traveller and does not expect to find the same high level of amenities in each country she visits that she enjoys at home. “If all countries were the same there would be no necessity to travel," she said. Since the war, said Mrs Giguet, there had been a change in the Parisian woman She no longer dressed in highest fashion all the time. There was a movement towards casual clothes. Women were becoming negligent about wearing hats, as essential complement “Some women attend cocktail parties hatless now," said Mr Giguet, "which would have been considered bad taste a few years ago." Mrs Giguet describes herself as a housewife, interested in gardening, ceramics, art and literature. But she is more—a mature, tolerant world traveller with the qualities of intelligence and charm which have made French women envied throughout the world.