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Crêpe and Punishcake
On June 28, 2023 by ElyseWhat’s better for defending your home than an assault rifle? Why, a-syrup rifle, of course! A Paris message says: An elderly lady, Mme. Mouillebois, was engaged in frying pancakes in her rooms in the Rue de la Maison Blance on Saturday, when she was alarmed by hearing the door of her flat open. A man
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Clip of the Week: January 25, 2023
On January 25, 2023 by ElyseIf any Second Glance History readers have been putting off a haircut or a shave, consider this your call to action: Appendicitis caused by moustaches is the latest curious case just reported to the French Society of Medicine by two Paris surgeons. They declare they recently operated on a patient in whose case the inflammation
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Madame Palatine’s Burn Book, Part 3
On September 29, 2021 by ElyseWelcome! If you haven’t yet read Part 1 and Part 2, click there and then come back to fully appreciate Liselotte’s salacious gossip. Don’t be fooled: Madame Palatine, aka Liselotte, may look like a sweet, doting grandmother, but her dirt is as vicious as Regina George’s, as scandalous as Gossip Girl’s and as dangerous as
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Madame Palatine’s Burn Book, Part 2
On September 15, 2021 by ElyseBonjour! If you haven’t yet read Part 1, start there for the full scoop on Liselotte and her clique. Last time, we patiently listened, er, read as Madame Palatine, aka Liselotte, vented in her 18th-century correspondence about her daddy issues, disobedient son and cringeworthy views on women in power. With all those grudges, how did
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Madame Palatine’s Burn Book, Part 1
On September 1, 2021 by ElyseShe is a wicked devil; treacherous in every way, and of a very dangerous temper. Upon the whole, she is not good for much. – Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d’Orléans, Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV and of the Regency, 1899 If you enjoyed the movie “Mean Girls” as much as teenage me did, allow me
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Americans Abroad
On July 21, 2021 by ElyseNow that the world is opening up to tourists, I’m spinning a globe, scrolling through TripAdvisor and planning my next jaunt. Rotterdam? Switzerland? Seattle? The possibilities are endless. I’m surely not the only one. However, after more than a year of sitting at home, some of my compatriots might benefit from a refresher on how
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Clip of the Week: June 16, 2021
On June 16, 2021 by ElyseRead to the end for a plot twist I guarantee you won’t see coming: A man who had committed bigamy was to-day acquitted at the Paris Assizes. He had married a woman twenty years older than himself, but she turned out to have a very bad temper, and refused to live with him. Then he
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Tattoos to Undo
On June 9, 2021 by ElyseStay tuned until the end for some shameless self-promotion! I’m way too old for teenage rebellion, but that didn’t stop me from walking into a tattoo studio recently. As I nervously contemplated which design I would spend the rest of my life staring at, I had no shortage of options. Did I want an inspirational
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The Spy Who Came in from the Sea
On August 26, 2020 by Elyse[In 1892,] a young girl singer of bewitching beauty, destined to worldwide fame thereafter, made her debut at the Costanzi Opera House in Rome in “The Huguenots.” She was “billed” alongside the celebrated tenor, Marconi. Her name was Elena Teodorini. – The Daily News, August 17, 1918 Actually, it was Theodorini, but if that’s the