Remembering the father of the Little Prince, Toulouse, France. Trapped in Toulouse because of yet another transit strike, I was roaming the city, and discovered this statue of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and his well-known and loved creation, the Little Prince.

Saint-Exupéry worked as a mail pilot in based in Toulouse before WWII. A pioneer of international flight, he would fly between Toulouse and Dakar, Senegal.

An author of several books, mostly autobiographical, He wrote his most famous work, The Little Prince, in New York City in 1940, where he had escaped to when France was occupied.He later joined the war effort as a pilot. At age 43, on what should have been his last mission, his plane crashed in the Mediterranean.

The statue is, I think, a fitting homage, with the Prince perching atop an open book, staring into the face of Saint-Exupéry, who stares back at him.

"Transport of the mails, transport of the human voice, transport of flickering pictures -- in this century, as in others, our highest accomplishments still have the single aim of bringing men together."