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Miss Lily Keeps Them Talking in Paris

NPR | By Susan Stamberg
Published July 26, 2005 at 12:00 AM EDT
Miss Lilly says her goal is to get strangers to talk with one another. She has the advantage of speaking at least four languages: English, German, Dutch and her native Hungarian. She can also call on a little Spanish, when need be.
Susan Stamberg, NPR
Miss Lilly says her goal is to get strangers to talk with one another. She has the advantage of speaking at least four languages: English, German, Dutch and her native Hungarian. She can also call on a little Spanish, when need be.

France is a nation of talkers. Intense one-on-one conversations take place everywhere, all the time. To a foreign ear it sounds like pigeons cooing.

In the Luxembourg Gardens, the most beautiful park in Paris, a small white-haired woman sits in the sun inviting conversation. She holds a sign in her lap that reads "Hello! Let's talk."

Miss Lily wants people to talk to each other. NPR's Susan Stamberg sits down for a chat with this former interpreter to learn why she is at the center of so many conversations.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Susan Stamberg
Nationally renowned broadcast journalist Susan Stamberg is a special correspondent for NPR.