I bet there are times when people are forced to make a choice about whether to visit Paris or London. Usually there just isn’t enough time in their holiday schedule to visit both. So, the decision is made to maximize their stay in one or the other city. But which one to choose?
In 2013, I wrote back-to-back blogs on why I like (or dislike) London and Paris. Each blog made the case for a respective city. Here we are in the dog days of summer, and everyone is traveling to Europe when the majority of Europeans are on holiday. What better time to combine those prior blogs and reprint my arguments for visiting each city.
France Today has invited you to view the video of my 6 June 2024 presentation, DOUBLE CROSS.
It is the story of the successful deception by Allied double agents to fool Hitler into thinking the Normandy invasion was a diversion with the real invasion taking place elsewhere.
FranceMedia Group publishes magazines, both in print and digitally, that cover various aspects of France. Their brands include France Today, Complete France, Bonjour Paris, French Entrée, Taste of France, France PropertyShop, and French Property.
Click here to visit the FranceMedia Group web-site.
Did You Know?
Did you know that dogs have been our friends for more than 12,000 years? They hunt with us, protect us, and despite how bad our day has been, they still love us. Dogs were the first domesticated animal and by medieval times, they were embedded in our homes (and castles). Think about the medieval tapestries you’ve seen in museums. There is always a loyal dog in the picture.
In the tapestries and paintings with dogs, we typically know the names of the human subjects but how often do we know the dog’s name? Did the dogs even have names back then? You bet they did according to a 15th-century manuscript titled, “The Names of All Manner of Hounds.” The author lists 1,065 names given to medieval dogs and you’ll see they are quite ingenious.
So, we come back to our slide show after a four-week intermission (click here to read the blog, Stew and Sandy’s Summer Vacation in Paris). Hopefully you enjoyed a rather lengthy blog about our adventures in Paris. I tried to mix a travelogue with historical tidbits.
So, settle back once more and join us during our days in the U.K., specifically London and Glasgow. Make sure your drink is filled and buttered popcorn is plentiful.
Did You Know?
Did you know that on 16 July, France officially remembered the 80th anniversary of the Vel d’Hiv roundup? The country is frantically trying to collect eyewitness accounts of this tragic two-day event in which more than thirteen thousand Jews in Paris were arrested and ultimately deported⏤most of whom never returned. (click here to read the blog, The Roundup and Cycling Arena) The survivors of the roundup and in particular, those detained at the Vel d’Hiv are now in their mid-to-late 90s and there are few of them remaining. Previous roundups targeted primarily foreign-born Jewish men. However, by mid-1942, French-born Jewish men, women and children were targeted for arrest. (More than half of the Jews arrested over those two days were women and children with children accounting for four thousand of the detainees in the large cycling arena.)
The Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris (i.e., Holocaust Museum and Memorial) has launched an appeal to find the last witnesses and survivors. The historians know thousands of stories are permanently lost but they are constantly amazed how many witnesses show up to recount their stories. In most cases, it is the first time since the war that these people have talked about their experiences. Despite eighty years later, their memories are as fresh as if the events happened yesterday.
Joseph Schwartz was fifteen at the time of the roundup. He lost his entire family after the French police made the arrests. He said, “You leave your parents one day, everything is fine. They kiss you; they tell you, ‘Take care of yourself,’ and the day after, there is nobody left.” Looking back, Joseph is shocked that the French police were granted medals for resistance. He says, “Preserving the memory is always necessary for a nation. Hiding the dark days of a country brings nothing to the future of that country.”
Day Eight: Underground to London
Today was travel day on the Eurostar. We were leaving Paris and going to England via train under the English Channel. I’m glad we got to Gare du Nord earlier than normal. It took us more than one hour to go through six check points. We eventually settled into our seats for the two-and-a-half-hour trip. Believe it or not, the actual time in darkness is less than twenty minutes. We were really under the channel for probably only fifteen minutes⏤the train travels very fast. We pulled into London’s St. Pancras International rail station just in time for lunch.
A short cab ride away was our hotel, Dorset Square Hotel, facing the private Dorset Square. On the way, we were glad to see that the red double-decker buses did not go the way of the red telephone booths. The cabs remain black in color but probably twenty percent of them are electric and they are all quite roomy. After checking in and leaving our bags, off we went to find Harrods Department Store. Dinner that night was at The Rajdoot, a small Indian restaurant right around the corner from the hotel⏤it was an excellent culinary experience. (While traveling in England and eating Indian cuisine, we have never had anything less than a first-class meal.)
“Another outstanding, well-researched, and presented book by Stew Ross. It gives a detailed guided walking tour full of facts about the activities of the Gestapo during their occupation of Paris during World War II. I highly recommend this book to everyone who has an interest in what life was like during the Nazi occupation in France.”
Richard H.F. Neave, President Royal British Legion Paris branch, member Paris-based Libre Résistance SOE “F” Section and author of SOE: A Life in the Shadows
“Informative and entertaining, Stew Ross’ newest work evokes a difficult and frightening time in the history of the City of Light. The detailed descriptions of sites such as the Vél’ d’hiv’ or Gestapo headquarters reminds us of the choices people made during those years.”
Cynthia Bisson, PhD, Professor of History, Belmont University, French Resistant Expert