The joy of my return to Paris after two months away began with a movie on the airplane. “Diplomatie,” a 2014 Franco-German production, is set on the night of August 24, 1944. Nazi General Dietrich von Choltitz, recently arrived as governor of occupied Paris, is under...
Originally published in Something Is Going to Happen, the blog of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. My short story, “Uncaged,” will appear in the magazine next week. My husband and I have lived in three neighborhoods since we moved to Paris 26 years ago....
The appointment of France’s new prime minister – or perhaps I should say prime ministress – has touched off a linguistic debate that many think should have been settled long ago. President Emmanuel Macron, who was elected to a second five-year term last month, last...
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...
France’s presidential election has me reflecting on the French language. Over the past few months of campaigning, I’ve heard words I didn’t know but could learn, words I didn’t know that were hard to translate and words that even French people didn’t understand....
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...
