 An Excerpt from the Chapter:
Potions, Puccini and Pandemics Milan and Paris 1889 - 1890 The foot of the butte was a Mecca to pleasure seekers and a new Babylon to the censorious. The Pigalle district had a great number of cabarets, taverns, dance halls and other drinking establishments drawing many finer folk who would never consider living there but were happy to frequent for the nightlife pleasures. Living alongside the artists and laborers were a population of characters that at the time I would refer to as strange. But now I know them as prostitutes, thieves, smugglers, tricksters, conjurers, pimps, gypsies and actors. Mother would never approve our being there unescorted. So for our day visit, Endie enlisted some artist friends who were happy to take us to the off-color center of Parisian night life.
0 Comments
 An Excerpt from the Chapter:
Potions, Puccini and Pandemics Milan and Paris 1889 - 1890 I saw a Paris with Endie that would have been invisible to me at my age. We explored the Left Bank, along the Rue Bonaparte she showed me the École des Beaux-Arts where Miss Annie’s new husband and Willis’s friend Bernard Maybeck had studied. Another day exploring the right bank we entered the Passage des Panoramas, the oldest of the covered passages of Paris. Here was the Académie Julian’s headquarters where we met a number of artists painting and sculpting. Then we climbed the steep slope to Montmartre, hill of the martyr Saint Denis, the first bishop of Paris where the Basilica Sacré Coeur was being erected, but was far from complete in 1890. Click read more to continue ...  An Outake from the Chapter:
Potions, Puccini and Pandemics Milan and Paris 1889 - 1890 From the ship we saw Genoa like a mirage, rising up from the rock amphitheater that enclosed the sea harbor in a warm secure embrace. A welcome sight after our rough Mediterranean crossing. From the deck the bejeweled Palazzo of the nobili sparkled in opulent displays as they shone over the water. Columbus, the honored son of Genoa stood proudly towering at the port. It was a picture-perfect first impression from afar. But the nearer we got to debarkation, the city revealed its gentle decay. She was a shadow of her former self wrapped in an old fraying coat. Click Read More to continue reading ... At the corner of Rue de Californie and Rue Crocker sits the Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste. The Church was originally built at the end of the 15th century on the foundation of the Notre-Dame de Pitié chapel in 1489, then later of the Sainte-Barbe chapel. In 1846, the bell tower was erected. The church sustained damage but not as much as the rest of the town in World War I. When the town was chosen by the California Committee and the French Government to be rebuilt in 1916, the citizens asked that their little church be first on the list. It is also where Daisy and the General married in 1917. The Church in 1914, 1917 and today Historic Photographs of the village of Vitrimont in Lorraine, France. Some taken by Daisy. 
Planning a vist to Nancy, Luneville and (of course) Vitrimont, I wanted to visit Verdun for a day. From Nancy it's an easy 1 hour+ drive. Daisy wrote of the devastation in the northern part of the front and it is well worth a visit today.
However ... I needed a simple map. What I found were endless sites trying to sell me a map or a tour. Some sites had great info, but no directions or details showing order or access. There are busses and drivers aplenty if that's what you want. But if you want to tour at your own pace by bike, foot or car, I offer my self-guided do-it-yourself Verdun visit. I created a route and some basic info, knowing I had plenty of history to accompany me on site. My two adult sons had done some research, but the Verdun Memorial Museum was a perfect place to start. This is what I offer here. Ten must-see Verdun sites. I'll add further comments and maybe more sites later. But for now - here's a free map to help you navigate the memorials and battlefields of Verdun. Verdun Self Tour Map
An easy to follow free map for a day tour of the Verdun Battlefields, Memorials & Monuments
(excerpt from Chapter 10 - Banjos, Bohemians and the Barbary.)
And then the dreaded letter arrived that would take Dan away from me too. Willis wrote to tell Daniel that he and William Hearst, the new young publisher of the San Francisco Examiner, were in discussions to design schematics for a proposed San Francisco World’s Fair in 1900. His first assignment was to go to Chicago and meet with the Chief Architect for the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition, Daniel Burnham. He was to write and draw a series of articles about the site and bring back ideas and information on cost and construction. He wanted Daniel to join him. "Daisies still look upward, However dark the hour."  I'd choose to be a daisy. H. De Marsan, Publisher. No. 38 Chatham, Street, N. Y. Monographic. This 19th century song could have been written about Daisy Polk. She was uprooted and replanted throughout her life, and she always looked upward or forward. By any definition, she was resilient.
Here are Daisy's thoughts about her name (excerpted from Book One - Chapter 6; Cotillions, Clubs and Courtship; Kansas City: 1887-1889; No-one was more aptly named than I. Daisy was a popular name to be sure. But it fit me as well as any name could. A daisy is the definition of resilience and simple can-do. Where nothing else grows, there will be daisies. From a crack in a busy city sidewalk to a field kissed by the sun and blessed with rich soil, a daisy is a flower that can grow anywhere and thrives despite any and all weather conditions. I had grown up a daisy, whereas my Endemial was the family rose. She needed nurturing and tending to show her best bloom and train her natural beauty and gifts. No amount of tending changes a daisy. A daisy just is.  Seven Points, Hot Springs, Ark. Hot Springs c. 1900. The Polk's built and managed the Hotel Josephine (center w double staircases) until 1895. (excerpted from the Chapter Steam, Shadows and Smoke, Book One)
Hot Springs was a curious place in 1882. It was a mixed-up sort of place. Fancy in some parts and so natural, steamy, muddy and messy in others. There were grand hotels, fancy carriages and broad promenades for fine ladies and gentlemen to parade up and down on the Avenue. Then there were the shacks across the creeks, or up the hills that served as reminders of what lay underneath and behind the curtain of finery. It was like being in two different worlds at the same time. For every elegant lady with an ostrich plume in her hat entering a grand Hotel Spa, there was a man on homemade crutches who probably hadn’t eaten in days heading to the free Government Baths for the wondrous cures that were offered. |
Some stories that couldn't make the book in full ... but need to be told! Editors welcomed - sign up below.
STORIES
MOULIN ROUGE Sacré-Cœur GENOA 1889 11.11.11 THE LITTLE CHURCH VITRIMONT SCRAPBOOK TOUR VERDUN WR HEARST PLANS SONG: DAISY HOT SPRINGS 1882 A WILLIS POLK GIFT THE RLS CONNECTION 1896 EARTHQUAKE TALES FROM COPPA PANDEMIC OF 1889 THE BOMB THAT SHOOK SF MILAN:CITY OF WATER POLK ON THE MAP FEATHERS, FASHION & FLY FISHING RARE AVIATION FILM - WWI 1914-17 1906 SAN FRANCISCO WTF FILES - TECHNOLOGICAL GET ME OUTTA HERE! NO HORSES, NO TENTS, NO $ DAISY IN FRENCH LITERATURE DAISY ON FILM! THE WHITE DEATH THE SYMBOLISM OF FLOWERS POSTE DE SECOURS WWI TRAVEL 1900: LONDON TO PARIS DAISY: REST IN PEACE KEITH'S, DRANE'S & KENTUCKY MOTHER: MISSOURI COMPROMISE Topics
All
|
RSS Feed