by Anne Swardson | May 29, 2024 | Architecture, France, Paris
Who could be knocking at the apartment door? It was a weekend afternoon, when repair people don’t work and most of the residents of our building go away. I opened the door to find two of my neighbors, who very politely asked if they could come in. A first in our 12... 
by Anne Swardson | Apr 28, 2024 | Architecture, France, Paris, Poverty
The façade of the Defense Ministry building on the Boulevard Saint Germain bears the holes and pockmarks of German bombing in 1918. It’s one of many reminders that wars have time and again been fought in France’s capital city. The ministry moved to a modern complex in... 
by James H. Schwartz | Nov 13, 2023 | Architecture, France, French
Ahhh, the infinite joys of French. The irregular verbs! The exceptions to every règle! The rarely used (but aptly named) imperfect subjunctive! And, as Anne explored here in August, the veritable feast of words that strike native English speakers as vague,... 
by Anne Swardson | Apr 24, 2023 | Architecture, Italian, Italy, Naples, Travel
To learn a language, you need to learn the culture of the country. I’ve certainly found that to be true with French and France. But when I decided to learn Italian, it all seemed rather intimidating. Unlike in France, Italian cuisine, dialects, traditions and... 
by Anne Swardson | Oct 31, 2022 | Architecture, France, Paris
Second of two parts This post has been corrected, see below. To some people, the symbol of Paris is the Eiffel Tower. To others, it’s the Arc de Triomphe or the Louvre. To me, the symbol of Paris is a train station: The Gare du Nord, North Station. It represents... 
by Anne Swardson | May 9, 2022 | Architecture, France, Paris, Walking
There is something extraordinary about viewing a city from 30 feet above the ground. You are at once removed from the daily struggles on the street and yet eyeball-to-eyeball with residents of second-and-third story apartments. I was reminded of this during a recent...