by Anne Swardson | Sep 24, 2025 | France, History, Paris, Strikes
France, too, is a mess. The country is on its fifth prime minister in two years, the result of a foolish decision by President Emmanuel Macron to call early parliamentary elections last year. The result was a legislature divided into three bill-stopping blocs. More... 
by Anne Swardson | Jun 2, 2025 | France, Paris, Pets
I’m familiar with many of the superlatives describing Paris — most beautiful, best cafes, finest museums, best-dressed inhabitants — but only recently did I learn that it’s also home to the world’s oldest pet cemetery. Technically,... 
by Anne Swardson | Apr 8, 2025 | France, Paris, Trump
In the decades I’ve lived in Paris I’ve seen, and covered, many street protests. But last weekend was the first time I got to be in one. Paris was one of numerous cities in France, and Europe, in which Americans joined millions in the U.S. to protest the ways in which... 
by Anne Swardson | Mar 30, 2025 | Art, France, Metro, Paris
You can see so many wonderful things in Paris, from theater to film to dance to foreign countries. Without even going aboveground. I was struck recently how the posters in the Métro are so much more varied and inviting than they used to be. In just one trip I was... 
by Anne Swardson | Mar 15, 2025 | Architecture, History, Virginia
Most of my walking in cemeteries has been at Père Lachaise and Montparnasse, where the headstones and mausoleums honor people such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Edith Piaf. But I’ve found a very unusual cemetery in my other home town. In this one, the graves are unmarked....