by Anne Swardson | Jun 27, 2026 | Architecture, France, History, Travel
In these dark times, I decided to visit a lighthouse. Like most of us, I needed a beacon of hope. And what a lighthouse it was. I chose Cordouan mainly because it was easier to reach from Paris than the lighthouses around Brittany. I didn’t realize at first that it... 
by Anne Swardson | May 30, 2026 | Architecture, Art, France, History, Paris
He sleeps surrounded by gilded artwork. The remnants of his power are all around: his minions nearby, the names of the battles he fought posted everywhere. A golden statue, right arm raised, depicts him in regal fashion. An enormous triumphal arch commissioned by him... 
by Anne Swardson | May 2, 2026 | Architecture, Art, France, History, Panama, Paris, Walking
I like to explore the outer edges of Paris to see the new, the modern, the unexpected. Walking along the Canal de l’Ourcq gave me that, and also some Paris history. The canal starts in the 19th arrondissement at Bassin de la Villette, which collected water from the... 
by Anne Swardson | Oct 22, 2025 | Art, France, History, Paris, Walking
On a lovely fall day, I set out from my 17th-arrondissement apartment and headed north. It’s a walk I’ve done many times before. This is where Paris ends and another world begins—of low-income housing mixed in with glass office buildings, of covered markets and... 
by Anne Swardson | Sep 24, 2025 | France, History, Paris, Strikes
France, too, is a mess. The country is on its fifth prime minister in two years, the result of a foolish decision by President Emmanuel Macron to call early parliamentary elections last year. The result was a legislature divided into three bill-stopping blocs. More... 
by Anne Swardson | Mar 15, 2025 | Architecture, History, Virginia
Most of my walking in cemeteries has been at Père Lachaise and Montparnasse, where the headstones and mausoleums honor people such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Edith Piaf. But I’ve found a very unusual cemetery in my other home town. In this one, the graves are unmarked....