Category: General

Posted on

Going Dutch on Thanksgiving

An American in…Holland?

As an expat growing up in Holland, I was constantly reminded of the role the Dutch played in the American tradition of Thanksgiving—not as direct participants, but as hosts to the English Pilgrims before they emigrated to America. The Pilgrims were religious dissenters of The Reformation who fled England in 1608 and arrived in Amsterdam. A year later, they moved to the South Holland city of Leiden where they lived for the next 12 to 20 years.

Leiden_American_Pilgrim_Museum
Exterior view of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum. Photo (2009). Herenld. Wikimedia Commons.

The three primary churches where they worshiped are the Vrouwekerk (in ruins today: the Pilgrims who settled Manhattan worshiped here), Hooglandsekerk, and Pieterskerk.

Today, the American Thanksgiving is celebrated every year at Pieterskerk as a way to celebrate the Dutch assistance given to the Pilgrims. The records at Pieterskerk reflect the births, marriages, and deaths of the pilgrims while living in Leiden. Next to the Hooglandsekerk church stands a medieval building (built in 1365) known as the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum (Beschuitsteeg 9). It is dedicated to the Pilgrims and you can see many original artifacts from the time they lived in Leiden. Read More Going Dutch on Thanksgiving

Posted on

“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.

Are you following us on Facebook and Twitter?

Copyright © 2014 Stew Ross