by Anne Swardson | Feb 14, 2022 | France, Paris, War
First of two parts I have never seen an empty space that was so moving. Six bronze figures in military uniform, five men and one woman, stand in two rows. They hold their hands as if they are carrying something between them, and it’s easy to see what: An invisible... 
by Anne Swardson | Feb 2, 2022 | France, South Africa, Travel
Last November, desperate for sun and warmth as we faced another grim, dark winter in Paris, Charlie and I booked a late-January trip to Cape Town. The next day, officials in South Africa announced they had discovered a new and highly transmissible COVID-19 variant... 
by Anne Swardson | Jan 19, 2022 | France, magazines
Le poids des mots, le choc des photos (The weight of the words, the shock of the photos) – Paris Match slogan I have been facing an existential crisis: Whether to resubscribe to Paris Match magazine. This is the low point of a 25-year relationship with what... 
by Anne Swardson | Jan 4, 2022 | France, Paris
Even though I like to write about Paris’s ethnic neighborhoods, a recent walk showed me that’s not really the right term. It implies boundaries and separation, when in fact many flow into each other, almost without warning. In three-plus hours, my sister... 
by Anne Swardson | Dec 6, 2021 | France, Paris
“Let’s walk around the 13th arrondissement,” said my sister Christine. What a good idea! Even though I gravitate toward Paris’s funkier neighborhoods for my blog-reporting walks, this one was mostly unknown territory for me. But Christine had recently moved...