Since the bicycle wasn’t even invented until the 19th century, earlier people like Archbishop Absalon (about 1128 –1201) had to make do with horses. Absalon was a typical archbishop of his time, meaning that he traveled around with an army or navy, or both, and fought lots of battles — Read More …
Every summer since 2008, the city of Weikersheim has hosted an outdoor sculpture exhibition of works by a prominent contemporary sculptor. When I was in Weikersheim in the summer of 2009 they had an outdoor exhibition of eighteen works by the German sculptor Guido Messer (born 1941 in Buenos Aires), Read More …
Quinquennially, that is once every five years, the city of Wuppertal holds a mid-summer celebration called ‘The Long Table’ (der lange Tisch) in honor of the city’s founding in 1929, when the cities and towns of Barmen, Cronenberg, Elberfeld, Elberfeld-West, Heckinghausen, Langerfeld-Beyenburg, Oberbarmen, Ronsdorf, Uellendahl-Katernberg and Vohwinkel were all merged Read More …
This bronze statue of the playwright Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799), the author of The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro, among other plays, is on display in Paris at the corner of Rue Saint-Antoine and the Rue des Tournelles, in the 4th arrondissement near Place de Read More …
For years I was mildly puzzled about who Saint Germain was, but only mildly. Now that I have finally looked him up, it turns out he was born around the year 496 and was Bishop of Paris from 555 until his death in 576. According to a poet called Venantius Read More …
Montparnasse Cemetery, with a surface area of 19 hectares, is the second largest cemetery in Paris. It is located in southern Paris and was opened in 1924. When you come in at the main entrance, at 3 Boulevard Edgar Quinet, there are some laminated cemetery maps hanging by strings on Read More …
Louis XIII (1601-1643) has not gone down in history as one of France’s outstanding kings. He was not a popular swashbuckler like his father, Henri IV, nor was he an awesome long-lived Sun King like his son Louis XIV. At age eight-and-a-half Louis XIII became king when his father was Read More …
More than a hundred meters above the old town of Besançon, Vauban’s Citadel covers eleven hectares on the top of Mont Saint-Etienne. Besançon was controlled by the Spanish until 1674, when it was besieged and conquered by a French army of about 70,000 men under Vauban’s direction. Under one of Read More …
With seats for 570 spectators in its main auditorium, the Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet is the smallest lyric theater in Paris. The nearby Garnier Opera seats three times as many people, and the Bastille Opera seats well over four times as many. Though the entrance to the Athénée is tucked away Read More …
In Toulouse I went on two guided walking tours on two consecutive days. Both were organized by the city tourist office. The normal cost was listed as € 9.50 per tour, but I only paid € 7.50 because of my advanced age. (Nice that they have senior discounts.) Each tour Read More …