Paris Notre-Dame: What the Fire Revealed
I have stood inside Notre-Dame three times, and each time it has been a different building. The first time I stood inside the cathedral was…
The Eiffel Tower: What the City Rejected, Then Claimed
We had been here before, Aaron and I, in a different Paris — before the fence, before the glass walls, before the security lines. That…
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Northwestern Europe: Football, Four Countries, Carry-On Only
As the 2018 FIFA World Cup quarterfinals played out, of the teams that progressed — England, France, Belgium, Croatia — we were packing for a…
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The Loire Valley: Châteaux, River Towns, and Three Nights at Artigny
I had researched the Loire Valley châteaux for two separate high school French essays before I ever stood in front of one. We left Paris…
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Chartres: Sound, Stone, and the Gothic Cathedral Interior
As a student of architecture, I had studied Chartres Cathedral in the way you study canonical buildings before you've seen them — through plans, sections,…
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Paris, Left Bank
The first morning in Paris, jet lag woke us at four. Rather than lie there fighting it, we dressed in the dark and took the…