WOLFEBORO, N.H. (AP) – French government officials and town police won’t confirm it, but French President Nicolas Sarkozy has already begun his vacation here – and dropped in for lunch Thursday at the Dockside Grille and Dairy Bar, two employees said Friday.
“It’s pretty cool. They were all very friendly,” said waitress Michelle Snyder, 20.
Michael Rice also was working at the restaurant Thursday. He said most member of Sarkozy’s party of 12 ordered chef salads and fruit cups. He said none had the signature dish, fried clams.
The French government will say only that Sarkozy and his wife, Cecilia, are planning to stay at a lakefront home owned by friends in the New England area.
But everyone in town says the French first family will be staying at a lakefront estate owned by a former Microsoft Corp. executive, Michael Appe, with a private beach and dock space for four boats.
“You walk in and you don’t want to touch anything,” said Rice, 20, who said his parents are friends with Appe.
Derrick Perkins, who lives three houses down from the estate on Lake Winnipesaukee’s Springfield Point, said other than the occasional marine patrol boat, he has seen zero signs of activity.
“If he’s here, he obviously is enjoying a quiet vacation,” Perkins said Friday afternoon.
In Paris, officials from the Elysee presidential palace confirmed Friday that the Sarkozy family had “traveled,” but would not say when.
The official French statement said the Sarkozys would be staying with friends “in a house on a lake about two hours by car from Boston,” without giving further details.
Geordy Hutchinson, who manages the property, said someone from the French delegation picked up the keys and members of the group were staying there.
He couldn’t verify the first couple’s presence.
Officials in the town of 7,000 on Lake Winnipesaukee will say only that local public safety officials met with the U.S. Secret Service to arrange security.
The estate can be rented for $30,000 (euro21,900) a week, according to a rental Web site. The more than 23,000-square-foot (2,070-square-meter) home has several bedroom suites overlooking the lake, a movie and media room with seating for 15, eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms.
Sarkozy has taken private vacations in the general area before, at the estate of the Desmarais family in Canada’s French-speaking Quebec Province, according to the Globe and Mail of Toronto.
Wolfeboro, which traces its history back to 1759, bills itself as the oldest summer resort in America and has drawn rich and famous people from around the world.
Monaco’s Prince Rainier and Princess Grace and author Kurt Vonnegut, actress Drew Barrymore and Taiwan’s Madame Chiang Kai-shek have vacationed there.
Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and current Republican presidential hopeful, has an 11-acre estate valued at more than $10 million on the lake.
“Plenty of property owners in town are here because they enjoy the beauty of the lake and quaintness of the town,” said Town Planner Rob Houseman. “Some are famous in their own worlds.”
Locals and summer residents alike said they didn’t expect anyone to make much of a fuss over the French president’s visit.
Sal Nicastro, owner of Sal’s Advanced Auto, said the only thing he worries about is a rumor that President Bush would meet with Sarkozy during his stay.
“That bothers me,” he said. “That would really strangle us with security.”
Romney, who lived in France as a young man, has no plans to meet Sarkozy on this trip, campaign spokeswoman Sarah Pompei said. Romney’s schedule has him out of state through Aug. 11.
Ironically, the town is named after Gen. James Wolfe, who was killed leading British forces in the decisive 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec City. The battle effectively ended France’s hopes of empire in North America.
Wolfeboro works to maintain its image as a quaint, New England resort. A trolley named Molly takes visitors from one end of Main Street to the other, and the town is filled with upscale summer homes.
Houseman, the town official, said he wasn’t worried that Sarkozy’s trip would result in a crush of French tourists.
“Anybody who wishes to vacation here is welcome,” he said.
AP-ES-08-03-07 2041EDT
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