You sit in the window as the feathery snowflakes drift slowly to the ground. You become transfixed watching in awe as these flakes try to defy gravity as they make their way to the ground. You call out to your family to come and watch. “It’s snowing!”
You crowd around the window watching this spectacle in front of you. You watch first the bikes struggling, then the pedestrians in the street struggling whilst still wearing their elegant Paris shoes, then finally it’s time for the cars to struggle.
We’ve got to go out and enjoy this! You go outside, you scrape up some snow in your bare hands and throw a snowball at your nearest and dearest – several in fact! Then just to finish off you get a handful of snow and shove it down someone’s neck under their clothes!! Victory! I hate it when that happens – to me!!
You go back inside, to the warmth of your apartment, leaving your sodden shoes inside the door. Feet are frozen, cold and damp! You rush to the window again. “Oh isn’t it beautiful, but if this keeps up we’re going to be in trouble”.
Well over the last 24 hours it’s been snowing in Paris, and now they’re in trouble. There has been around 15cm of snow through the Paris region, and the roads are chaos. Last night there were 160km of traffic jams around the main roads and on the ring road. As well many train lines were closed, and the metro was significantly disrupted making peoples’ return home seemingly impossible.
But then the sun comes out, and the whole place seems like a scene out of a fairytale! It’s as if someone has thrown bucket loads of diamonds over your neighbourhood. Everything sparkles! If you can keep warm and not need to travel around for the day this is one of the most wonderful views. What is it about snow?
I love Paris in the snow!
Snow at St Germain Cafe, Paris
A wintery day in Paris
A sunny start to a snowy day
Wow I had no idea Paris got so much snow, odd how the French can even make winter romantic.
oh, I love snow. and I love paris. this is the perfect combo for me! Love the pictures of the empty cafe with snow all around!
I loved the snow in Paris over the weekend. Nice pics, John.
Hope you enjoy the snowman making John!
Beautiful pictures. I hate snow and I hate the cold, but looking at it your post from a sunny beach is very, very nice.
Some really nice shots there and a lovely post. Ayngelina is right – if it happens in Paris, it always seems to happen romantically…
I’ve been thinking about your comments about how romantic everything looks even in the snow. I am not a photographer, but I think they might agree that how a photo looks is how you feel. I could have taken some photos in the snow making the place look desperately bad!! For example a photo of a homeless man sheltering in the Place des Vosges, sheltering from the Siberian cold wind whilst dragging on a gifted cigarette – but that wasn’t the point of my story!! Thanks for your comments. Keep warm!
And I’m trying to get out of the cold and 3cms of snow that fell in Daejeon, Korea last night. Lovely photos.
I do love snow as well. My philosophy is if it’s going to be cold, it might as well be snowing, too. It is just a beautiful sight, and I’m sure Paris is gorgeous under a white layer of snow. Great post.
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Beautiful. We’ve tons of the stuff here too, even had to call the army in to deal with it, sheesh!
Wow, excellent description, I enjoyed reading it, sounds pretty freezing!
You described the snow from an antipodean’s point of view exactly. I always had the exact same feelings as you. I love the snow for the first day and then, although pretty, really do wish it could go away. We would get days off school when it snowed, which was good, yet really bad as the schools then took away some of your Easter holiday to make it up!!! Just let it go. This was in the US btw.
Gorgeous pics
Thanks Caz. Actually the Parisians have a similar attitude to their snow. Great to start with, but then….! It is supposed to snow again this Thursday with disrupted airports etc, so then the fun goes out of it!!
Hi I just found you on a Twitter Retweet … I wish I had been there or was there now .. Love Paris .. but would just love to see it in the winter.
Anne, it was great to check out your blog! If your still in the south-west then Paris is not far away. I have good friends just to the north of Cahors, maybe you are nearby!?