You know you live in Paris when… You don’t
You don't live in Paris anymore. You now live at the center of a nameless territory with a radius of one kilometer, legally circumscribed by coronavirus confinement. If you were to give that territory a name, it would be your own.
The Best Boulangerie, a Paris Vignette
A simple yet powerful story about social distancing and the choices we make, by Alice Elvleth, an 84-year-old American who has lived in Paris for over 40 years.
You know you live in Paris when…: French Combat Rations
At home in Paris, in a neighborhood with an extraordinary array of food shops, bakeries and restaurants, the author opens a box of French combat rations and sets out on a mission of three square meals.
You know you live in Paris when a striker …
... texts you at 10pm
Him: Good news, I’m on strike tomorrow.
You: Good news for whom?
Him: Us. I can come by in the afternoon.
You: But I’m not on strike.
You know you live in Paris when…: Le Clarence
... it’s Fashion Week and you’ve tired of the pretense and now just want to stop and smell the Haut-Brion while attending the cookbook launch party for Christophe Pelé, chef at Le Clarence...
You know you live in Paris when…: Canal Saint Martin
You know you live in Paris when you, Guillaume and Ahmed have made plans to meet for a drink along the canal at 7:30 and you end up working late and it's 9'oclock and raining when...
Eisenhower, de Gaulle and the Wild Rabbits at the Invalides
Late on a drizzly afternoon, having learned nothing and felt little from reading about and watching videos of the 75th anniversary of D-Day commemorations in Normandy, I went to visit the wild rabbits that inhabit the lawn of the Invalides.
Judgment Day at Notre-Dame de Paris
We stood across the square from Notre-Dame. There it was, the western façade of the cathedral, the three doors, the row of kings, the rose window, the two towers, a peek at the steeple. Susan thought it beautiful. Her daughter Claire thought it ugly. I was their guide. "Gary’s going to tell us about it and you’ll see that it’s beautiful,” said Susan. "I never said it was beautiful," I said.
Still Life in Paris, Inspired by Notre-Dame
You’re at your desk 24 hours after the outset of the fire at Notre-Dame, after being up much of the previous night, first having dinner with a friend, then standing in silence on Ile Saint Louis watching the blaze peter out, then speaking and texting with family and friends six time zones away, then ...