Thought you might be interested in how the heads of State ruminated here in Normandy during the 60th anniversary. I should point out that I did not attend, so this is third hand. Without permission from Ouest France, the salient points:
All guests arrived by Rolls -- excepting Queen Elizabeth who prefered the comfort of her own Range Rover -- to enjoy the lunch, made briefer by the morning's fog at Caen-Carpiquet. The Caennais chef Ivan Vautier prepared a started of local duck foie gras poached in apple juice and pommeau, duck chutney with sweet onions and myrtilles. Then, oven roasted rack of cotentin lamb, with a tarte tatin of tomatoes confit and grilled eggplant.
Only Laura Bush and Bernadette Chirac had cheese. One assumes the latter politely kept Mme Bush company. Cheeses were not specified (oddly) but no doubt included the Normandy Trinity: Camembert, Liverot, Pont l'Eveque. Mme Bush showed more sense than her husband, see below. :)
Desert was a millefeuille (which also rhymes with Bourgueil!) of dark chocolate, light cream (I assume this means liquid cream, instead of normandy raw cream which has the consistancy of ice-cream) with spices, apricot coulis and cocao sorbet.
There is a pull-out in the article: "Coca-cola for the american President." (Even if he doesn't drink alcohol, there would have been many other options... Like water!)
So, Bush ordered a coke. For the more enlightened, the meal started with a '89 Climens (Sauternes), continued with another classic, '89 Latour (Paulliac), and finished in style with a '95 Taittinger Contes de champagne.
Chirac, as is his habit, eschewed coffee. He prefers an infusion of fresh mint. Apparently there was a relaxed atmosphere as he sat between Queens Elizabeth and Beatrix, with Bernadette across and Bush and Putin on each side of her.
Only Bush and the British Queen left by car, (Rolls and Range Rover respectively), the rest of the party got on a bus and headed for Arromanches. Thus, public transport lives for some striding down the corridors of power.
-E