I survived the Siege of Paris and all I got was this token.Okay, let me start by saying that the title of this post is sort of a joke. I am going to talk about a commemorative souvenir token that…Apr 26Apr 26
Four things I wish I’d had when I was learning FrenchAutumn has finally come to Paris. In the Tuileries Gardens, I admire the flowers the gardeners have planted and savor the cool air on my…Oct 23, 2023Oct 23, 2023
Time traveling, basements, and other newsResearching the past isn’t easy — and I’m learning that certain time periods are even more difficult to visualize and understand than I…Feb 28, 2023Feb 28, 2023
Making a Siege of Paris holiday dessertParis, December, 1870: Under siege by the Prussians since September 19, the city has run out of a number of basic cooking ingredients…Dec 18, 2022Dec 18, 2022
Let’s check out the Musée de la Poste’s impressive collection of Siege of Paris artifacts!Located near the busy Gare Montparnasse (Montparnasse train station), le Musée de la Poste (The (French) Postal Museum) contains one of the…Oct 15, 2022Oct 15, 2022
Strange Paris history bonus: Marat’s bathtubI’m going to interrupt this blog’s usual content about life during the 1870–1871 Siege of Paris, to travel back nearly eight decades from…Sep 18, 2022Sep 18, 2022
This modern-day boulangerie commemorates a famous Siege of Paris hot air balloon escapeAmid the bustle of the long, tree -lined avenue Gambetta in Paris’s 20th arrondissement is a particularly eye-catching sight. A bakery with…Aug 20, 2022Aug 20, 2022
France’s 2022 mustard shortage and Paris’s 1870 cheese shortageSometimes, war and natural disasters end up influencing everyday life in unexpected ways. During the 1870–1871 Siege of Paris, for…Jul 6, 2022Jul 6, 2022