I was heading to an art show opening that my friend had been working on at the Pompidou. I came out of the metro at Hôtel de Ville and was awed to find big, fat, luscious flakes falling from the sky! I looked around, seeing that they were even accumulating! It's not completely unusual for it to snow in Paris. It happens a little bit from time to time every winter. But the snow almost never sticks. There might be a dusting on the ground in the morning, but by the time the first round of people leave their homes, it disappears into slush and yuckiness underfoot.
But on Friday night, the snow was sticking. And lots of it, too! After I came out of the Pomp after the opening, everything was covered and everyone was stunned. The city was absolutely gorgeous.
the Centre Pompidou
next to the Pomp is a pool with crazy fountains designed by Niki de Saint-Phalle and a beautiful church in the background, now all covered in snow
the sparkling Hôtel de Ville plus the unanticipated snow made for an indescribable scene
The funny part was watching the Parisians try to deal with the quickly-accumulating whiteness. They carried umbrellas, they skated dangerously along the sidewalks in their high heels and flat-soled city shoes, they took shelter under awnings to dust themselves off before continuing any further and most of them grumbled and cursed all the while.
In an even more unexpected turn of events, the snow lasted for nearly a week! It snowed a bit every night and the temperatures were low enough that it never melted. I had lots of students missing from class because lots of public transport to small towns and villages was cancelled. And a month later, people are still talking about it!
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