by Anne Swardson | Sep 20, 2021 | covid, France
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... 
by Anne Swardson | Sep 8, 2021 | food, France
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... 
by Anne Swardson | Aug 23, 2021 | Architecture, France
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... 
by Anne Swardson | Aug 9, 2021 | covid, France
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... 
by Anne Swardson | Jul 26, 2021 | France
“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... 
by Anne Swardson | Jul 12, 2021 | France
“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...