A Special Souvenir

In English, the word souvenir makes us think of objects/knick knacks brought back from a trip. 
In French, the word simply means, memory. 

My favorite memory from Paris happened on our first night. We deliberately left the map at home and went on an aimless walk just to see what we could see.  I love Paris at nighttime; all the monuments gleam with warm, golden light and the glow from the street lamps sparkle on the Seine.  Walking by Sainte Chappelle, we discovered a baroque concert would be starting in just a few minutes so we hurried inside, but once we got through security and up to the ticket booth, we found out we were short by a couple euros!  We were on our way back out the door when a kind stranger asked us if anything was wrong and I told him that we didn't have enough money.  When he heard this, he told us to come and follow him.  All this was happening in French so Joe didn't know what was going on, but he followed me as I followed this man back up the stairs, past the ticket booth and into the chapel.  The man at the ticket booth didn't seem happy about this and told the man that we hadn't paid, to which the kind stranger replied, "they are my guests. " Upon hearing this, his demeanor towards us changed.  The man told us he hoped we enjoyed the concert and the usher quickly showed us to our seats.  I was so overwhelmed by this stranger's kindness, the beauty of the chapel and the music.  We never found out who the stranger was - there was such a rush to get to our seats before the concert started and although we looked, we couldn't find him after the concert.  It was just one of those serendipitous,  mysterious and precious moments  I'll never forget.