GC Columns
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Bell-ieve in the Power of the Bells
Bells have been around for a long while and we find them in most of the cultures around the world. In Europe, it’s easy to become accustomed to the melodies of bells ringing throughout the day, and it’s easy to discover their ap-peal (pun intended) wherever you might be in your own hometowns and in your travels.
5 Movies Based on Books by Ernest Hemingway
One of America’s most prolific and celebrated writers to change the literary landscape is undeniably Ernest Hemingway. While it’s always a challenge to capture a work of writing and adequately refashion it for the silver screen, here are five worthwhile adaptations of works by the incomparable Ernest Hemingway.
The Blue Line of the Vosges Mountains
“The Blue Line of the Vosges Mountains” (translated from “La ligne bleue des Vosges”), comes from the fact that after the Franco- Prussian War (the War of 1870), Germany annexed what we always refer to as Alsace Lorraine but was more precisely Alsace and Moselle (just a part of Lorraine), and the Vosges regained their status as a border between France and Germany. So this line became the symbol of the French revenge and animosity against the Germans and remained that way until the First World War.
Marseille and the Americans—A Wartime Story
These people still remember vividly about surviving in a city where food was scarce, where part of the city was bombed, about meeting an American soldier and learning how to play baseball, other stories are about the many marriages between American soldiers and French women. Many still remember the joy of American movies and music, which they were able to watch and listen to after the Liberation.
A Day in Rimbaud Land
I stand there for a while, thinking about the poet's words that changed modern poetry, words that have been accompanying me through the city, taking me into his life, mind, and travels. And I have combined my love for Patti Smith's and Rimbaud's work; it has been a perfect day.
Brown Chicken Brown Cow: The Many Delights of Food Porn
There’s something so evocative to me about pictures of food and the power they have to vividly remind me of mouth-watering meals and moments that I’ve had on my travels. I can look at my culinary photos and remember exactly where I was, the scent of the dish just placed in front of me, and the way the flavors open up on my pallet.
The Beloved Baguette
Think about the way you envision a stereotypical Frenchman: black beret, a striped t-shirt and a baguette under the arm.The beret is from the Basque country. The stripes are common in Brittany. But what about the baguette?
Mona Lisa: Why?
Every day in every famous museum, there is a swarm of visitors mobbing a single piece. The David. Primavera. The Sistine Chapel. And in Paris, the Mona Lisa. Tempers flare as visitors vie for position to get the best view or the perfect selfie for Instagram. And as I observe the madness, I have to wonder, why are we doing this?
The Baguette: A Brief History
What could be more French than the traditional baguette? Even if, it is said, more are consumed in Algeria, a former French colony, than in France itself. The word baguette is, amongst other things, the French expression for a wizard’s wand, a conductor’s baton and a chopstick, the quintessentially traditional French loaf of bread simply taking its name from the shape.
Bread Battle Royale: Rye vs Baguette
Having lived 25 wonderful years in France, but born in Denmark, there's still one thing missing from my birth country, and that is the rye bread. The tasty rye bread is dense, like the image of brooding Scandinavians. It is dark, like the Danish-produced televison crime shows.