New York, September 23-26, 2008 – Carla Bruni stole the show at the 63rd United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.  With most of the world’s leaders gathered at U.N. headquarters, all eyes were on France’s glamorous and sophisticated First Lady.  Nicolas Sarkozy spoke only in French while at the U.N.; the only phrase he uttered in English was: "Ladies first", when he was taking questions from a group of jostling journalists.

That same day, when Sarkozy and Bruni got stuck in traffic on their way to the Waldorf-Astoria, they hopped out of their car and walked to the hotel, where the French president received an award from the Appeal of Conscience Foundation.  Their security team must have loved that! 

The other big surprise at the U.N. Assembly was that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seemed to be having a blast.  He was friendly and joked with journalists, who began to refer to him as “I’m a dinner jacket”, and was something of a chick magnet, with women asking him to pose for photos.  Of course, Ahmadinejad’s good mood didn’t stop him from railing against the U.S., but we’ll leave that topic to political blogs.