by Anne Swardson | Jan 5, 2021 | covid, France
For months, I bragged to my friends in the U.S. that France’s COVID vaccination program would be rapid, efficient and well-run, in keeping with its national health system. Silly me. The vaccination rollout here has been nothing short of a disaster. It’s replete with... 
by Anne Swardson | Dec 28, 2020 | Christmas, France
Dedicated to Harold Roland Swardson, who loved France and all things French. This story starts with clueless expats, but it doesn’t end there. When we moved to France in 1996, we brought all our household effects, including a Christmas-tree stand. It wasn’t exactly... 
by Anne Swardson | Dec 14, 2020 | covid, France
“Any Paris of the future that is neither a frozen artifact nor an inhabited holding company will perforce involve fear, dirt, sloth, ruin and accident.” — Luc Sante, “The Other Paris” When we moved to the 17th arrondissement in 2012, a friend who... 
by Anne Swardson | Nov 26, 2020 | covid, France
For one of our first Thanksgivings in Paris, we invited a few French friends over for dinner. We made a few mistakes. One was to assume everyone knew what it was all about. One friend arrived with several bags filled with beautiful presents for the children. When we... 
by Anne Swardson | Nov 15, 2020 | covid, France
One of the few saving graces of Lockdown 2.0 in Paris: The parks are open. During the 56-day shut-in last spring, they were closed tight. No one even mowed the grass. Now, people are free to enjoy them – if the parks are close to home and everyone wears a mask. We... 
by Anne Swardson | Nov 6, 2020 | covid, France
Originally published in The American Scholar There are two lessons to be drawn from Europe’s second wave of Covid-19: 1. Getting it right the first time isn’t enough. 2. Messing with dinner time doesn’t work. In the summer, the countries of continental Europe seemed...