In 1923 a new edition of the beautiful red Baedeker travel guide to Paris was published. Anyone who read it, possibly with the intention of traveling to Paris in the near future, could get scared. My goodness how expensive everything was there. The salted restaurant prices are a huge topic in the practical part. Again and again it is pointed out what enormous sums one has to reckon with. Above all, there is an urgent warning about the “posh” restaurants. There the prices are only given for the main dishes, the “fine hors d’oeuvre” that are served at the beginning while the soup is being prepared are not listed, but are charged “if they are not rejected immediately has”.
What does the traveler do with his lady companion when he wants to go to the theatre?
The Baedeker reader, a man of course, is now armed. He will shun the poshest of establishments, and if he doesn’t, he will certainly turn down any hors d’oeuvre offered to him. But what does he do with his lady companion when he wants to go to the theater? Or to the opera? Ah, if only he had traveled alone. In fact, women are not allowed in some houses in the stalls, where Baedeker says the best seats are. And what does he do with his hat during the performance? He doesn’t leave it in the cloakroom, but takes it into the hall and only puts it down during the performance. Well, at least that’s settled.
Oh, how wonderful it is to read old travel guides. Like a novel without annoying characters and disturbing plot. You can throw yourself directly into the exciting noise of the big city, which is home to the tallest building on earth, the gigantic Eiffel Tower. And everything is racing. Alongside horse-drawn carriages, more and more automobiles are speeding down the wooden-paved boulevards. Electric escalators lead down to the Métro. Every day at noon sharp, when the sun is at its highest, a miniature cannon discharges in the park of the Palais Royal, by which you can set your pocket watch. Everyone drinks mazagran (cold coffee in a glass, diluted with water). And in every cigar shop there is a light that you can light without buying. Lets go.
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