I will point out that "let them eat cake" line was mischaracterized by her political enemies trying to blame the terrible situation her and her husband were dealing with on all nobility of the time rather than just well... the nonroyal nobility.
The whole situation with Marie is such a heartbreak once you actually stop and look at the history. Specifically because her "Let them eat cake" line was actually in admonishment of her fellow nobles throwing such lavish parties while their people starved.
The lavish parties started 2 kings back when her Husband's grandfather established a new palace and forced the nobility to come to him and hang out in the newly built palace putting on lavish spending like a new outfit each day and big parties during a time of abundance as a sort of way to keep his court in check and prevent rebellion (a noble spending all his cash on keeping the king happy is a noble who can't afford to raise an army in rebellion). Then the next king grew up in a lavish palace knowing only parties without the political reason behind them and kept up the whole thing cause "I'm king and I can do what I want." This leads us to a period of misrule and lean times... leading toward Marie's marriage to the next king who was like "oh fuck my dad royally buggered this... *We need to stop the parties now!!!" But because of how royally buggered he was from his Dad slipping political power away from the royal family... the nobles kept up with the parties because they'd gotten used to them by that point and that was just the political system and how it worked...
I was under the impression that it wasn't just a misattributed admonishment, but that she never actually said it at all (or the actual phrase "let them eat bread", since Brioche isn't cake in any case).
Apparently the phrase is first attributed to an unnamed royal in the mid 18th century when timeframe-wise Marie was a child and hadn't even left Austria yet.
There is indeed some contention about the true source of the line! Fun thing about history is that often times the "facts" get muddied. Particularly when propaganda is involved. Marie was the victim of one of the first national level smear campaigns not conducted by the nobility that actually worked! I've seen many versions of the story but the one fact that rings most true to me was that she was a woman undeserving of her ultimate fate. A kind soul who, through circumstance, was forced by history to die an unbecoming death.
Yep, you're spot on, if history wasn't such a moving feast, historiography wouldn't be a thing right?
Regardless of the history of the quote, I think anyone who's studied the period (and I certainly have not to any deep degree 🙂) can definitely argue Marie really was a scapegoat and victim of geopolitics.
As for the video, I regret not being able to take my kids to see the Swiss Alps. I visited Lauterbrunnen and Engelberg when I was in my 20's and loved it. Went on a family European holiday last year that was basically a "kids, this is a whistlestop tour to give you a taste so you can come back when you're older and backpack where you want". We're in Australia so trips as big as we took can only be done so often, and with only so much in them.
Made it to the Tyrol, which they loved, but just didn't have time to get back to Switzerland.
History nerd here….Louis XVI’s grandfather was Louis XV. I think you’re referring to Louis XIV aka the Sun King who started all the lavish spending and nonsense. Sun King was the great-great-grandfather of Louis XVI.
There is merit to the argument that you should avoid imported foods, especially when living in a rural area. It costs money and energy to bring that stuff all the way to wherever this might be. Whereas you could instead eat a local, more readily available, cheaper alternative.
That's not true... Swiss food is actually way cheaper in neighbouring countries, buying local produce is still way more expensive then shopping for the same produce across the border... it's cheaper to transport it TWICE than not at all.
Not sure why it doesn't equalise, you'd have to research it but it's likely more than just one tax... Wages are higher.... Currency isn't in the eurozone... Lots going on really.
I don't know what they intended but peanut butter is notoriously expensive outside the US. Whenever I visit my friend in Switzerland I bring him a couple giant jars of PB.
For around the same price $4 I can get an enormous jar that takes two hands to hold (40oz ~1.1kg). Googling prices in switzerland, it's about 12 CHF for 1kg. In total about 4-5x more expensive. However, that's not a bank-breaking sum for a treat so I'm guessing he just likes the american chemical extra creamy PB that you don't have to mix and tastes like home.
I went on a trip to Interlaken with my family a couple of years ago. 3 kids ordered cheeseburgers and fries - I nearly had a heart attack. 200 CHF for 3 kids to get a burger.
No, you are wrong. it's expensive because it's a rich country, everything is inflated... It's not the extra cost of getting it there, the same produce is much cheaper in the French/Italian/Austrian alps....
Really? NY was dirt cheap when I visited... guess things have changed in twenty years haha.
Even so, I know rent is crazy expensive, but I doubt it's as expensive for food and drink as many European cities... The dolomites is obviously much cheaper even though it's an expensive tourist destination relatively speaking, but places that Copenhagen and other scandi cities can really sting, like I was out of pocket £50 for a bottle of wine from a shop we drank in a carpark! Wine in the UK would be like 70% cheaper... I remember NY being good value for food and drink.... Even London can be very pricey, like would you ever pay $12 for a single donut? London is filled with stupid gourmet stuff that costs the planet.
Many people have a rough euro conversion in their head. Nobody except maybe those who border or live in Switzerland has a Swiss franc conversion in their head.
Isn't it funny that when people use USD on this site as generic currency, noone bats an eye, but the moment you use a different one, people immediately attack it? The way you feel about this, is exactly the same as we feel when we have USD shoved down our throats left and right.
They didn’t mean to imply that Switzerland uses euros, they just gave the cost in euros because that way more people can relate to it, the same way that people often do with US dollars.
Distance from the farms and ports, as well as regulations around foods like testing and safety measures needing to be paid for. I hear the food quality has stricter standards than most. Also not a staple food so not ordered as much in bulk that would reduce costs.
The reason I mentioned peanut butter was because it was the CHEAPEST thing with some nutritional value we could afford. Switzerland is extremely expensive. Currently median income is over 7.5k euros, more then 30% higher then EU average.
In some affluent areas, you won’t sell anything without a large markup as a status symbol. Could be part of it. Some people avoid “cheaper” things even if they’re better quality.
To be fair you named a product that’s notoriously expensive in Europe to begin with, even when not Switzerland. Prices were not much better in central and Eastern Europe for peanut butter.
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