by Anne Swardson | Mar 29, 2022 | covid, France, Paris
I saw something startling in the grocery store the other day: A human face. It was a consequence of the government’s recent decision to lift many COVID-19 restrictions. Most notable among them: the requirement that masks be worn in public indoor places,... 
by Anne Swardson | Mar 14, 2022 | Architecture, France, Paris
The headline is a little misleading. Paris doesn’t have ugly walks. I had to turn to the near suburbs to find scenery that reflected my worry that the world is ending, democracy is dying and the pandemic will never be over. I’ve walked through funky neighborhoods,... 
by Anne Swardson | Feb 28, 2022 | France, Holocaust, Paris
Second of two parts I’ve been thinking about war a lot lately. The war in Ukraine, of course. But also, what is it about war that turns people into savages, that makes them commit horrors they never would have dreamed of in real life? One Paris memorial raises that... 
by Anne Swardson | Feb 14, 2022 | France, Paris, War
First of two parts I have never seen an empty space that was so moving. Six bronze figures in military uniform, five men and one woman, stand in two rows. They hold their hands as if they are carrying something between them, and it’s easy to see what: An invisible... 
by Anne Swardson | Jan 4, 2022 | France, Paris
Even though I like to write about Paris’s ethnic neighborhoods, a recent walk showed me that’s not really the right term. It implies boundaries and separation, when in fact many flow into each other, almost without warning. In three-plus hours, my sister... 
by Anne Swardson | Dec 6, 2021 | France, Paris
“Let’s walk around the 13th arrondissement,” said my sister Christine. What a good idea! Even though I gravitate toward Paris’s funkier neighborhoods for my blog-reporting walks, this one was mostly unknown territory for me. But Christine had recently moved...