Vianden Castle, Cursed Books, Best Baguette, Crosswords in Fiction & More: Endnotes 06 March

Every Friday, we celebrate the weekend — and all the reading and relaxing and daydreaming time ahead — with Melissa's favorite book- and travel-related links of the week. Why work when you can read fun stuff?!

This post is part of our Endnotes series.

That fairy tale castle above is Schloss Vianden (Vianden Castle) in Luxembourg. A strategic outpost has been on this spot since 275 (!), when the first structure was built on the Great Reims-Cologne Roman road connecting Roman Gaul (France) and Germania (Germany). What we would recognize as a castle — thanks to the large towers, thick walls, round arches, sturdy pillars of the Romanesque style — was built between the 11th and 14th centuries. It was enhanced with Gothic embellishments and, later, Renaissance touches; see a drawing here. But in the early 1800s, the castle’s new owner starting selling it for parts: tiles from the roof, wood panelling, doors and windows, copper roofing — all sold off, piece by piece — until the castle lay in ruins. Its stone walls survived WWI and WWII, even providing some protection to the Luxembourg Resistance against the Waffen-SS. In the following decades, the castle was slowly restored, and now, it’s a very pretty place to immerse yourself in history and explore the town below the castle ramparts. Treat yourself to this video tour.

• The intricate, lacy designs of Victorian hair jewelry. ‘A single curl, an elaborate design, or miniature pictures could be painstakingly fashioned out of hair…. Favorite motifs used in palette designs were: Prince of Wales feathers, landscapes, basket-weave patterns, weeping willows, and departing ships.’

• I love a niche element repeated in fiction. Enjoy this collection from The Guardian of crossword puzzles in fiction. (Scroll to the bottom of that page for the entire list, which includes PG Wodehouse and Lord Peter Wimsey from books by Dorothy L. Sayers.)

• A list to spark debate: 20 Books That Need Movie or TV Adaptations. I am 100% here for Blitz, the ‘an atmospheric memoir of the club that helped set the tone for the 1980s.’

• Happy to see my girl Jane Eyre on this list! 5 Romantic Novels That Were Scandalous When They Were Published.

• Don’t you just want to leap into these pastel-colored photos of 1950s Banff?

• Whoa! If you like Baz Luhrmann’s on-screen spectacles (Moulin Rouge! Gatsby! Romeo+Juliet!), you’ll be excited to know he’s designing a fancy train car for Belmond, the luxury travel company that now owns the Orient Express. ‘From the moment someone receives an invitation, or chooses to board Celia, they should be drawn instantly into her world and be swept into the glamorous, mysterious life of the actress for whom the carriage was named.’

• The idea of these is maybe more appealing than actually doing the derring-do? 7 Hotels Built in Impossible Locations.

• It’s always a good rule when exploring: Don’t forget to look up! Magnificent Ceilings and Domes from Historic Hotels of America. Stained glass, chandeliers, frescoes, domes, and more!

• ‘The best historical fiction should transport the reader directly into the past, yet offer insight that reflects upon the present…’ Here are five recommended titles from author Emily Howes.

• Compelling rabbit hole alert: 25 Medieval Manuscripts You Can Look at Online. So many (beautiful) distorted perspectives and weird animals!

• What’s better than an old book? An old cursed book. Here’s a review of the new story collection The Haunted Library: Tales of Cursed Books and Forbidden Shelves, from British Library Publishing.

• An artist in Kansas City, MO, turns library checkout cards into miniature works of art. Read the story here and explore her gallery here. (Thank you to friend-of-SSoP Kathleen S for sharing this with us.)

• Literally a peek behind the curtain, a red-coated butler at a theater in London’s West End takes us backstage.

• Irresistible headline of the week: Inside the Cutthroat Competition for the Best Baguette in Paris. ‘Only baguettes de tradition are allowed to enter. The legal designation means the dough is made with only four ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and salt. The competition specs go a step further; each loaf must meet strict standards for size, weight, and salt content.’ The winner gets a cash prize and the privilege of supplying bread to the French president’s residence for a year. Sithamparappillai Jegatheepan won this year; it was his first competition.

May you also enjoy a delicious surprise.

Top image courtesy of Thibault Milan/Unsplash.