Tea at Trianon: Festive Hotel Displays

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, December 27, 2021

Festive Hotel Displays

From The Bruno Effect:

Fairmont San Francisco prides itself on its extravagant festive displays, and this year is no different. In time for the holidays, the hotel has transformed its main lobby into an enchanting grotto, with a ceiling-scraping 23-foot-tall Christmas tree and colourful decorations including the Molinari Family Nutcracker Collection. The centrepiece of the exhibit is a giant gingerbread house measuring a staggering 22 feet high by 23 feet wide – around the height of a two-story building. The brainchild of executive chef Michael Quigley, the house features a completely edible exterior, made from thousands of home-baked gingerbread bricks and more than a ton of royal icing and candy decor.
“We are delighted to once again celebrate the holiday season in true Fairmont style,” says Fairmont’s general manager Markus Treppenhauer. “The unmatched Victorian Gingerbread House, resplendent in See’s Candies, the festive Moët Champagne Bar, and the ever-popular traditional holiday tea offerings truly define the magic of the holiday season in San Francisco.” (Read more.)