Snow seems to fall on Paris only about one year in three, and in this moist basin of the Seine it hardly ever sticks for more than an hour. With the climatological trend pointing toward rain-only from now on (not to mention that the Alps are sliding into the Mediterranean) the past few days’ light but steady snowfall felt like a reminder that anything good can happen. The white stuff was an evenement majeur, rousting such rivals for public attention as the declared war in Mali, the 300,000 or 900,000 strong (depends on who’s counting) demo against a complicated gay-marriage law, the terrorist raid and carnage at a gas facility in Algeria, and even les soldes, the marvelously orchestrated January sales that unleash a year’s worth of pent-up consumer lust.
In Paris in snowtime there’s even more passionate public kissing than usual, whether under romantic streetlamps or on slushy, busy corner crossings. Dogs bark at flying snowballs, pigeons fluff their feathers, and intrepid fashionistas, teetering on high-heeled boots, show off their new fur-lined designer parkas (see soldes, above). Kids who have never seen snow before run around in circles with their mouths open. Middle-aged couples trot and skid down the snow and ice crusted sidewalks, hand in hand, laughing like kindergarteners. Beggars kneeling on their sheets of cardboard turn their faces up to the flakes, while their cups fill with yellow coins. There is more solidarity in snowtime. Strangers catch each others’ eyes and smile: ‘Les voila, les neiges d’antan!’
Today we’re back to rain.
POINT de VUE: PARIS 
A lovely and here, quite impossible picture. Saw zero F this AM.
If I had a Facebook account, I’d LIKE this, because I loved it! There is a bed of roses here in Boston that inspires joy into the winter. Thank you for capturing it so eloquently and sharing the magical moments that follow increasingly rare snowfalls, the ones that sustain us once the grumblings begin.
Just wonderful. In New York we may still have snow on a more predictable basis than in Paris, but it is definitely a phenomenon in decline, and as such we treasure it all the more, at least until we have to drive. Snow does create a sly bond between strangers, a different one than do most other phenomena, and this is perfectly captured here. We did have a couple of decent snowfalls here recently, but now it is merely cold, a little below zero F this morning. Not like snow.
“the Berkshires seemed dream-like on account of that frosting…” J.T.
Oh Kai, this was almost as good as being there. Thank you!
Simply Waoo.. 🙂
Love Paris in the winter 🙂