Posted on

Paris or London?

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.


BonjourFrance 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.

HOW TO VIEW THE FREE VIDEO

Members:

Click here to view.

Non-members:

Click here to view.

(viewing this video is free for 30-days)

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.

“Hunting with a Hawk” tapestry. Lots of animals but always at least one dog. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Metropolitan of Art (tapestry dated c. 1515). Bequest of George Blumenthal, 1941. PD-CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Wikimedia Commons.
“Hunting with a Hawk” tapestry. Lots of animals but always at least one dog. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Metropolitan of Art (tapestry dated c. 1515). Bequest of George Blumenthal, 1941. PD-CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Wikimedia Commons.

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.

“The Lady and the Unicorn” tapestry. Notice the dogs? Photo by Own Work (15 December 2021). Musée de Cluny (tapestry dated c. 1500s) PD-Author’s life plus 100 years or fewer. Wikimedia Commons.
“The Lady and the Unicorn” tapestry. Notice the dogs? Photo by Own Work (15 December 2021). Musée de Cluny (tapestry dated c. 1500s) PD-Author’s life plus 100 years or fewer. Wikimedia Commons.

Read More Paris or London?

Posted on

The Stinky Middle Ages

Now do we really care how many times Mila Kunis bathes her children? Or for that matter, how many times Ashton Kutcher showers or the hygiene habits of any modern celebrity? (For our international friends, this has been a big topic of recent discussion on social media in our country.) I’m most concerned about the bathing habits of other people when I’m in Rome in mid-July on a hot and sticky day inside the Sistine Chapel packed with five thousand other people looking up at the ceiling.

Tourists craning their necks to admire the Sistine Chapel. Photo by anonymous (c. 2013). Daily Mail 21 May 2013. www.dailymail.co.uk
Tourists craning their necks to admire the Sistine Chapel. Photo by anonymous (c. 2013). Daily Mail 21 May 2013. www.dailymail.co.uk

I wrote a blog some time ago addressing medieval sleep habits (click here to read the blog, Medieval Sleep Number©️ Bed). The important question in that blog was “Why were beds so short back then?” It’s not what you might think but you’re probably close. So, today I believe we will discuss something most of us do after getting out of bed in the morning . . . namely, bathing habits. After the folks in the Middle Ages crawled out of their short beds, what was their daily hygiene process?

The answer as to whether people from the Middle Ages were, let’s say, aromatic is not clear cut. There are many opinions about bathing frequencies and types of bathing habits. Opinions are formed by studying medieval illustrations, written accounts, and pure conjecture. Some people believe bathing was done on a regular basis while others point to evidence supporting intermittent bathing. I have not run across anyone’s opinion that bathing was totally neglected. Like many historical questions, there is not one simple answer.

Husband and wife bathing. Illustration by anonymous (date unknown).
Husband and wife bathing. Illustration by anonymous (date unknown).

Read More The Stinky Middle Ages