A Walk Made for Ewe
I’ve found the ideal walking companions to see Paris’s outskirts. They don’t need bathroom stops, don’t argue with your itinerary (unless they find a yummy clump of grass), don’t need to stop for lunch (as noted), don’t care if it rains and don’t have a language...
France Unmasked
I saw something startling in the grocery store the other day: A human face. It was a consequence of the government's recent decision to lift many COVID-19 restrictions. Most notable among them: the requirement that masks be worn in public indoor places, including...
My Search for the Ugliest Walk in Paris
The headline is a little misleading. Paris doesn’t have ugly walks. I had to turn to the near suburbs to find scenery that reflected my worry that the world is ending, democracy is dying and the pandemic will never be over. I’ve walked through funky neighborhoods,...
The Saddest Memorial in Paris
Second of two parts I’ve been thinking about war a lot lately. The war in Ukraine, of course. But also, what is it about war that turns people into savages, that makes them commit horrors they never would have dreamed of in real life? One Paris memorial raises that...
Sites of Remembrance We Do Not See
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...
Beating Winter, and COVID, in Cape Town
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...
A Match Made in Paris Loses its Spark
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...
Sisters Among the Yams and Couscous
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 Christine and...
You’ve Never Seen the Paris Shown in This Movie
“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 there for...
It’s a Dog’s Paris
Let’s get one thing straight: The sidewalks of Paris are not littered with dog poo. Hefty fines have curtailed most déjections, as they are called. A while back, a Paris woman who not only failed to clean up after her two Jack Russells but also insulted the cops who...