I’d been thinking about my friend Joel Stratte-McClure ever since I heard that some swimming events of the Paris Olympics will be held in the Seine. A river that, right now, contains “alarming levels of bacteriological pollution,” a nonprofit foundation said last...
Reprinted with permission from The Washington Post. See below for a response from the grown-up Louise. October 5, 1997 PARIS — Less than a month into the French equivalent of second grade, my daughter has met the enemy and it is a fountain pen. Wrestling with...
When preparing for my French citizenship interview, I had to learn all the major symbols of the Republic. La Marseillaise. Marianne and the Phrygian cap. The Gallic Rooster. One could even throw in the Fleur-de-lis. Or the Eiffel Tower. No matter which list I studied,...
I’ve written before about how Paris is filled with war memorials, especially for World War II. I was reminded recently that stories also bring that war home to Europeans. At a time when horrible violence is rising anew on this side of the planet, war memories have...
France is buzzing during the fall rentrée. King Charles and Queen Camilla spent two days in Paris in a blur of ceremony and bonhomie. The Rugby World Cup is being played everywhere. It’s Fashion Week. Museums are busting with popular exhibitions, and Pope Francis was...
Is compost about birth or is it about death? This is just one of the questions I have been pondering as I try to adapt to the American way of compost. In Paris, composting your food waste has recently gotten very easy. You put it in a little brown container, walk to...
