19 Comments
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Michael Kupperburg's avatar

What a magnificent obsession!

Congratulations, on both making it work and being able to work on what you like.

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David Gemeinhardt's avatar

Thanks!

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jodi {diaryofaladytraveler}'s avatar

What a wonderful, lifelong passion. Thank you for sharing the story of your Francopholia, David - I loved reading it!

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David Gemeinhardt's avatar

My pleasure! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

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Rita Fennell's avatar

Thank you, that was really absorbing, how fantastic to have a passion and follow it so far! I need to up my French from being able to order food! It’s interesting about Substack, you may have seen my note about someone posting that it will inevitably go the way of others, I hope not this seems such a great environment for connecting with people writing interesting and in depth work. A glass of Chablis your way, sod the coffee, it’s Sunday! 😂

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David Gemeinhardt's avatar

I did see your post. I think we all fear that Substack will go the way of other platforms. So far, though, I find it much more congenial than the others. Thanks for reading, and, oh my gosh, thank you for the coffee and wine!

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Marco & Sabrina's avatar

Share your love of The Sun King- one of the most entertaining history books ever written

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David Gemeinhardt's avatar

Agreed!

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Nicolas Sutro's avatar

Sweet piece, man. Loved it.

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David Gemeinhardt's avatar

Thanks, and thanks for sharing it!

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Keith Christiansen's avatar

I loved this. So nice to get a sense of your own coming to understand how you came to such a deep and personal connection to this subject. I am the type that loves to read the forwards of books as well. I love seeing how anyone has come to their interest and focus on any point in history.

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David Gemeinhardt's avatar

Thanks for reading. I understand what you mean. I'm interested in why people are interested in what they're interested in.

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Saxon Henry's avatar

I'm so happy to know about your journey, David. Truly impressive and inspiring. I just followed you on IG from @themodernsalonniere. My original IG @saxonhenry was hacked several years ago and I lost it as well. Such a pain!

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David Gemeinhardt's avatar

It really was painful. 13,000 followers, gone. That's why I just do photos on the new Versailles Century IG account with very minimalistic captions. Why put in a lot of effort for content that you don't control and have no ownership of?

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Saxon Henry's avatar

I know; it was painful for me, too. Years of developing an audience gone in one evening! I'm glad you found a way to keep the content flowing. I'm much newer to Substack but I'm enjoying it.

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Portia's avatar

I hugely enjoyed this post, David, merci! I wonder if you ever watched the anime "The Rose of Versailles" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rose_of_Versailles in Canada. It was a huge hit in Italy in the 80', where it was called "Lady Oscar", and I think many kids developed an interest in French history and la Révolution thanks to it.

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David Gemeinhardt's avatar

Nope, never saw it. I didn’t become aware of it until decades later.

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Portia's avatar

If you have Netflix, a new movie (anime) is coming on April 30th. It won't be available in the Netherlands right now, but maybe it'll be in Canada.

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David Gemeinhardt's avatar

I do have Netflix. Thanks, I’ll keep an eye out for it.

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