Paris Lockdown 2.0: Week 3
A stroll through Paris’s best-known cemetery. How I spent my Sunday.
Author Archives: Lisa Anselmo
Paris Lockdown 2.0: Week 2
The lockdown doesn’t feel like the last one. Here’s why.
Paris Lockdown 2.0: Week 1
The first week of reconfinement in Paris was painful. But not for the reasons you think.
Lisa in Paris
Is there anyone who hasn’t seen Netflix’s Emily in Paris? I put off watching it because I was sure it would be cloying and riddled with clichés—the Paris of Instagram […]
Confined Again, Naturally
Here we are again, my friends. Lockdown #2. Color me bewildered. “No country could have predicted how accelerated, sudden, and brutal this second wave would be,” French PM Jean Castex said […]
Food, French Chefs, and Family: An Interview with Samantha Verant—Plus a Recipe!
Welcome to the fourth in my series “Meet the Expats,” where I promote other undaunted foreigners who have chosen to call France home. Friend and author, Samantha Vérant, just launched […]
Life After Lockdown: A Sleepy City
Welcome to a special edition of Stroll-with-Me Sunday. While Nice is a-buzz with the Tour de France, Paris is still very quiet in the last days of the annual summer […]
Life After Lockdown: Masked with a Vengeance
Oh boy, oh boy, fun times in France! Over 2000 new cases daily (100K+ active cases)—numbers not seen since April—with most new cases in people 25-35. And Paris is a […]
Life After Lockdown: A Dedication
Paris is so tranquil these days. Everyone is away. You can hear yourself think, feel all the feels. It’s heavenly, in a way. My emotions have been crawling around on […]
Life After Lockdown: Being a Digital Nomad
While everyone else is off to the south for vacation, I might be hanging here in Paris. It’s not a terrible idea; the city is getting quiet—and without many tourists, […]
Life After Lockdown: Sidewalk Surfin’
Stroll-with-Me Sunday is here! This weekend, we’ve had a heatwave, with temperatures reaching 100F+(39C). And Parisians (those not already on vacation) were doing their best to keep cool—chillin’ on café […]
Life After Lockdown: Uncovering Hidden Gems
Seems every time I take a turn onto a new path I am rewarded—in my weekly walks, and in life. But today’s stroll reminded me that the most rewarding adventures […]
Life After Lockdown: Where I’ve Been
This morning I awoke to a comment on my blog, asking, “Lisa, Where have you gone?” Gone? Me? What? “Oh my!” I said, jumping out of bed. Had it been […]
Life After Lockdown: The Thing About Borders
This Music Monday is all about borders. (Song link at bottom of post.) “E.U. Plans to Bar Most U.S. Travelers When Bloc Reopens” declared a New York Times headline. “N.Y., […]
Life After Lockdown: 10 Things I’ve Learned
As I write this, I know some of you are still in some form of lockdown, and many more are very much into your first wave of this virus. Here […]
Life After Lockdown: Fete de la Musique
Today would normally be my Music Monday offering but this week, I’m showcasing other people’s music. We’re talking about Fête de la Musique, which happened yesterday, a citywide music festival […]
Life After Lockdown: Abundance Hemmed In
This Music Monday I’m serving up a double helping of song. That’s right! Two for one. (See links at bottom of post.) I have officially gone down the rabbit hole […]
Life After Lockdown: Into the Woods
After three months of confinement indoors then the explosion of life as we reopened, including the onslaught of pollution-spewing vehicles, I needed a break from the city. My friend Fabien […]
Life After Lockdown: Keep Calm (and Do It Again)
It’s Music Monday (just barely). (See song at bottom of post.) Well, the good news is, my social life is slowly (and cautiously) returning. The bad new is, because I […]
Life After Lockdown: Nous Sommes en Terrasse (Once Again)
It was the day Parisians had been waiting for. Cafés had been touting their reopening all week. “Ready to see us again Tuesday?” asked my local café on Instagram. Another […]
Life After Lockdown: Hello June
It’s Music Monday! (See bottom of post.) And it’s the first of June. Already. You’re not the only one surprised by this. “Is tomorrow a holiday?” a friend asked me […]
Life After Lockdown: My Big Day Out
It was a beautiful day, too beautiful to be stuck inside. Confinement was over; I was no longer restricted to a 1 kilometer zone, so I slipped on my mask […]
Life After Lockdown: Music Monday
It’s Music Monday again! (See track at bottom of post.) We’re starting our third week of “déconfinement.” Where did last week go? Where the heck was I? I’ll tell ya […]
Life After Lockdown: One Week In
It’s Music Monday! (See track at bottom of post.) Coucou! as they say in France—or as we’d say, “Yoo-hoo!” I’m checking in with my regulars today, who seem to have […]
Life After Lockdown: Seeing Things Anew
In keeping with Stroll-with-Me Sunday, today’s offering. I was able to take a stroll without any official documents for this first time since March, and after being in lockdown so […]
Life After Lockdown: Takeaway Happiness
Today, I ate my first bite of restaurant food in two months. It wasn’t planned. I was walking around in the neighborhood after I picked up a washable mask from […]
Deconfinement Day 2: They’re Baaaaack!
They let genie out of the bottle yesterday. And, wow, did genie go crazy. Genie was like, “Woohoo!” and ran all over the place. In droves. Or maybe Pandora is […]
Lockdown in Paris: Deconfinement Day
Well, today is the day—not just Music Monday, but also the day lockdown as we know it is over in France. Today, we start phase one of the slow road […]
Lockdown in Paris: Day 55
Happy Mother’s Day to those celebrating, and welcome to Stroll-with-Me Sunday! Today, I’m taking you to the ancient Village de Charonne, which was annexed by the city in 1860. Watch […]
Lockdown in Paris: Day 54
It’s Saturday, again. But this Saturday is different, because it’s the last one in lockdown. Starting Monday, France is beginning the first phase of “déconfinement.” It’s met with some apprehension […]
