by Anne Swardson | Apr 26, 2021 | covid, France
Much of what’s good about America can be found at the grocery store. Like many long-term residents abroad, Charlie and I experience reverse culture shock when we go back to the U.S. We marvel at the width of the highways and their broad medians as we drive away from... 
by Anne Swardson | Apr 12, 2021 | covid, France
Until the pandemic, I never associated the word “hope” with the word “construction.” But my wanderings around Paris show that people are investing money and time in businesses that are not even allowed to operate now. It’s a sign they... 
by Anne Swardson | Mar 29, 2021 | covid, France
Paris’s riverside booksellers have had to be tough to make it through the 500+ years they’ve been in business. Kings censored or outlawed them multiple times and wars shut them down. They’ve always come back to set up their green-metal stalls along the Seine. The... 
by Anne Swardson | Mar 16, 2021 | covid, France
Originally published in The American Scholar On the evening of March 6, 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, went to the theater. They saw a performance of Par le Bout du Nez, By the Tip of the Nose, about a French president who has an itch... 
by Anne Swardson | Mar 1, 2021 | covid, France
This month marks what would be, in normal times, the start of the Paris tourist season. The British half-term, the American spring vacation, the German winter break, all happen close to now. Chinese and Japanese tour groups arrive too, as the weather warms and the sun...