Author: Stew Ross

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Blood in a Gourd

History Buffs Welcome!

If you’re a history nut like I am you’ll likely be interested in crazy stuff like this. You all know that we’re about ready to publish the first two books on the French Revolution (Where Did They Put the Guillotine?—A Walking Tour of Revolutionary Paris). As part of the journey in writing this book, I’ve come away with some interesting stories.

Louis XVI in Saint-Denis Cathedral. Photo by Dan Owen

One of the stories is about the little Dauphin who was murdered at the age of ten while a prisoner in The Temple. Interesting story but the part I want to highlight is about the doctor who performed the autopsy. He cut the heart out of the child (this was common practice back then—the heart would be buried separately from the body) and managed to keep it in his possession for many years. The liquids preserving the heart dried up and as a consequence, the heart shriveled. It was also lost for many years before it resurfaced.

 Rumor Has It…

Subsequent to the end of the Revolution, many stories floated around that the Dauphin had escaped by being substituted for another young boy. The royalists clung to this theory for decades. Although not formally crowned, the Dauphin became known as Louis XVII (upon the formal restoration, his uncle became Louis XVIII). When the heart ultimately resurfaced, the question became, was this the heart of the Dauphin? If so, would this prove he died in prison? DNA testing was performed on the heart and confirmed to be his. It put to rest the conspiracy theories and the vial containing the little heart can be viewed at St. Denis, the royal necropolis outside Paris. Read More Blood in a Gourd

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“New York City, London, or Paris?”

unnamedHigh Priced Living

I’m reading a lot about the escalating prices of homes in London and how we common folk can’t afford to live in the city any longer. So a recent article in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ.com) caught my eye. It is entitled, Paris’s Haut Marais: From Shabby to Chic. It’s all about that too familiar story of a neighborhood that is run down, experiences high crime, and everyone stays away. But one day, several brave souls venture in, buy up some property, and begin to rejuvenate the neighborhood.

The Haut Marais (or Upper Marais) is essentially the part of the Marais District located in the 3e (third arrondissement or district). The southern portion of the Marais District is in the 4e and a common destination point for tourists. The article talks about apartment prices, the gentrification of the area, and some of dramatic improvements including several open air markets.

I decided to take a look at comparing some fundamental prices between New York City, London, and Paris. Here is data from April 2014 gathered by an online service known as Numbeo (all figures are in US$):

                                                                                      Paris               London           NYC

Meal for 2; mid-range restaurant:                        69.10              83.99              75.00

Domestic Beer:                                                            8.29                 6.05             6.00

Foreign Beer:                                                                6.91                 5.88             7.00

Milk (1 liter):                                                                1.51                 1.58             1.35

Eggs (dozen):                                                               4.33                 3.82             3.00

Bottle of Wine (mid-range):                                    8.29              11.76              15.00

Local Cheese (1kg):                                                  21.01              11.44              10.73

Gasoline (1 liter):                                                       2.26               2.34                 1.06

Basic Utilities:                                                           235.47          249.54              152.96

Cinema (one seat):                                                    13.82           20.16                 13.62

One pair of Nike shoes:                                            120               109                      89

Rent per Month (1 bedroom in the City):            1,578            2,470              2,857

Rent per Month (1 br. Out of the City):                 1,141             1,540              1,692

Price to Buy/Sq. Meter (in City):                           13,754          13,775              9,688

Now, its been a while since I’ve been in London or NYC but I can tell you (from first hand experience) that a beer in Paris is much more expensive than what Numbeo reports above. Another glaring exception is the local cheese. Sandy and I found that the least expensive food item when comparing to the US equivalents was cheese. We did notice on many occasions (regardless of where we went), shoe prices and specifically tennis shoes, were very expensive.

So what’s the lesson here?

Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.

Do we have a lot of stories? Of course we do. I’m looking forward to sharing these with you. Please continue to visit our blog and perhaps subscribe so that you don’t miss out on the most recent blog posts.

Thanks so much for following my blog and my little journey through this incredibly interesting process of writing a series of niche historical travel books and then getting the bloody things published.

-Stew

Please note that I do not and will not take compensation from individuals or companies I mention or promote in my blog.

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Copyright © 2014 Stew Ross