Guest Post: My Hair-Raising Commute Across Paris
My sister, Dr. Christine Swardson Olver, is spending four months in Paris doing canine cancer research, her second spell as a scientist in France. She has already mastered the place, or at least the transportation part. By Christine Swardson Olver I decided to live...
France Finally Gets COVID Right
I recently returned from the U.S., where the talk was of breakthrough infections, vaccine reluctance, rising cases and unmasked citizens coughing on the masked. It was a relief to get back to France, which, after some false starts, seems to have gotten the balance...
Me and My French Butcher
We have a winner in the Locate-the-Paris-Rooftops contest! See below. * * * * * * * * * * “Have your butcher.” Those three words in a recipe used to bug me no end when I lived in the U.S. How could I have my butcher do anything when the meat came in a sterile plastic...
The Rooftops of Paris: A Quiz
When things get you down, look up. Actually, you should always look up in Paris, where the rooftops reflect the beauty of the city. I started taking photos of roofs a few years ago, sharing some of them on Facebook. Ever since then, I've tried to really see what is...
Paris Running on Empty
In my 25 years in Paris, I’ve always resisted the temptation to declare the city “empty.” Not in August, not during the pandemic. No matter how many people have fled or can’t enter, there were always enough residents and visitors to occupy the cafés, shop at the...
The Trashing of Paris
“You’re moving to Paris? It’s a dirty, dirty city.” So said a high-school classmate at a reunion in Ohio 25 years ago, after I excitedly told her of my upcoming relocation. I’m not sure she’d even been to Paris. But it’s true that the level of filth in the City of...
The Far Side of Paris
“Very often Paris is considered a museum-city, frozen in its elegant Haussmanian avenues, monuments, and upscale districts…..But when you stray from the beaten track, you realize this is not the case at all: Paris innovates and reinvents itself every day.” – Nicolas...
My Country Believes in Voter ID
I’ll come out and say it: Voter ID is a good thing. That’s a controversial view in the U.S. But I have seen it work here, not once but for every one of the 10 times I have voted in France. All voters carry their national identification card (a passport will do too)...
Escaping the Center of the Universe
Charlie and I celebrated the phaseout of lockdown recently with a trip to Rouen, a lovely city with a knockout cathedral. The trip was also a reminder that France isn’t just Paris. In the past we’ve traveled widely in our adopted country, but the various COVID...
A Moveable Feast of Paris Demonstrations
Did you ever try to attend several parties in one evening because they all sounded so fun? I was given a similar opportunity via an email from the U.S. Embassy the other day. “Multiple protests on Saturday beginning at noon. Demonstrators are expected on a variety of...