So long 2020! Bonjour from Paris. It’s good to see you again. I need to make a confession: In spite of the accounts I shared about the France lockdowns, I have not hated all of 2020. A friend who knows me well once commented I was “a pragmatist walking on the sunny side of the…
My life in Paris has never been boring. In a way, it has not slowed down since I relocated to France in March 2019. The fall has been no exception: I moved and settled into a new home, just before the Paris lockdown 2.0 got enforced. My life in Paris: Au revoir, “the 7th Heaven“…
To view this content, you must be a member of Veronique’s Patreon Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to access this content.
Traveling in France: Yes, we can! Traveling in France is what I have been doing since the end of June. I plan to take more trips, cautiously, yet resolutely, through the summer. I often get asked what it is like, these days, to travel around France. Here are some answers. On May 14, 2020 as…
In confined Paris, week 5 is wrapping up. Are we there yet? No, not yet. Not even close. A tentative date for le déconfinement (the end of the lockdown) has been set to May 11. People around me, in social media mostly, seem to think that on May 11, all of Paris will rush outside,…
Paris Lockdown: parameters Week 2 of le confinement (it always sounds so much better in French!) is wrapping up. My life, these days, is much smaller: Hours go by within a few blocks in a quiet, (too quiet) neighborhood in the French capital’s outskirts. I used to show tour groups and visitors around the city…
Chez Monoprix Chez Monoprix is where the Tough Get Going when the Going Gets Tough. On a gloomy March morning, as France seemed to have come to a standstill and was holding its breath expecting more bad news later in the day, I was not surprised to see several neighbors of mine at our local…
Becoming French: the Myth Becoming French is a popular topic, in literature and in social media. Becoming French, to some francophiles or expats, is a goal, a rite of passage, an achievement to be proud of. An urban legend claims becoming French has a lot to do with {insert one, or several of the following…
Paris as I live it Another week in Paris has just wrapped up. The French capital has been testing us all for the last few weeks during the longest public transportation strike the city has experienced in decades. The strike is also impacting other cities, other regions, but few depend on public transportation as much…
The day I met my Parisian elevator My Parisian elevator and I met in March, when I visited the elegant red brick building, built in 1936, I came to call home. Two weeks earlier (I was still in Seattle then,) my father had told me he may have found a studio for rent located on…