Jan 21, 2013
Encore plus de neige
Paris remained magical on Sunday morning. In fact, even more so in comparison to Saturday. Throughout the day, snow continued to fall all over the city (and other parts of the country), depositing layers of powdery ice over everything as well as everyone who ventured out from their cosy apartments.
Frédéric and I went out for an impromptu date morning, but first up, after seeing Carina’s blog post, he requested if we could stopped by at the Louvre before heading up to Montmartre, my destination pick. Of course! After we wrapped ourselves well, we were out the door.
The first stop at Louvre was a fantastic idea. Still too early for tourists to arrive in big groups, we shared the court area with only a handful few people, mostly photographers and a couple of joggers. I don’t know how those people do it – it was quite chilly to be out running in skimpy gears! (Oh yes, we saw one in t-shirt and shorts, no kidding. And, brrrr.)
It was also at this very spot that we made our first snow angels! Our inner children were certainly cheering with glee and amusement. Snowball fight was a bit more tricky with the soft snow that refused to gel into solid balls. In fact, we garnered more snow on our gloves than the puny ammunitions we delivered to one another!
We also took a peek at Jardin des Tuileries which gates were still shut – bummer, we couldn’t walk through to get to Place de la Concorde – and saw just vast ground covered in white. Such a different feel from the garden that I normally see, all grit with some hedges and a handful few rows of trees.
Steady stream of snow means I had a trickier task playing photographer. Flakes were sticking to my lens, especially when the wind blowed towards us, and silly me forgot to bring suitable cloth to dab away the resulting water spots. Improvisation with my clothes, that is. I was concerned too if I’d end up scratching the lens…
As a queue began to form by the first visitors of the day to Louvre, we made our way north towards Montmartre. From the hill, we would get a vantage view of the city but first thing first, a small detour around the “village” part of Montmartre. To see windmills and other quirks that made the area as charming as it is. See, Frédéric had never been here and I thought this had to be rectified!
During our little excursion, we saw people taking advantage of the slopes to glide/sled downhill. Looked like tons of fun and we then wished we had snow gliders to play along too. We also spotted a couple of people carrying skis up the stairs of Butte Montmartre and couldn’t help but wondering where would they go to be able to ski?
The view of the city from the steps of Sacré-Cœur was breathtaking. If only the presence of the snow hasn’t made the air seemed dull and foggy, for this hid away some of the major landmarks that can normally be quickly identified. I even tried to look out for Eiffel Tower at rue Saint-Éleuthère but without luck.
All the hustle and bustle in the area had been the busiest yet that I’ve seen over the weekend. Elsewhere, there would have been more people around later in the day than the early hours when I hit the snow-covered pavements and parks, but here in Montmartre, the hill was alive with pure excitement even before 10am!
Frédéric decided to make his morning outing extra memorable. As I descended Butte Montmartre via staircases adjacent to the funicular, he went freestyle sliding down the icy slopes. Extremely pleased with himself, one of the videos which I shot had made the round among family members for a bit of entertainment.
Pigalle was where we caught the métro home, and I could not resist just grabbing that last shot which openly advertised erotic businesses as well as semi-concealing a “museum” which can only be touted as, errrm, interesting. It opens daily from 10am through till 2am, and couple tickets are cheaper here than two individual tickets. I’ve been pondering if it’s worth visiting, all in the name of research for this blog, of course. ;)
Ps: all photos from the weekend in Flickr album as usual
Love these photos! I wish I’d had the motivation to go to the Louvre or Montmartre — but it was just too cold for me! Seeing your photos has convinced me, next time it shows I’ll get my butt out :)
Thanks – it was cold and I had layers (4? 5?) on! But it brought out a lighter side of everyone so happiness was in the air. Very contagious ;)
Very nice pics Lil! I specially love the one with people and colourful umbrellas and those near the Louvre…
Thanks! I’m still not very confident at photographing people but this is a good start I think ;)
Lil, can you please STOP posting such beautiful photos that just makes my heart break?
I miss Paris!!!
(and you guys, too)
Awww Jo – I was just thinking how much Soph and Ju would have enjoyed this! Such a pity we never got coverage like this last year. Hope Singapore is treating you well and I miss you guys!!! Kisses for the kids!
What lovely pics!
On the news on France 2 on Sunday, I saw people skiing at Montmartre! maybe they were the people you saw with their skis! It looked like they finished their piste at your photo “Behold snow-covered Paris”, or somewhere very similar (I think there were benches at the fence).
it could well be! can’t say i know the nooks and corners in montmartre too well to say where they may have finished their piste.
nice to see the sights without having to be out and about ;)
i particularly like your sentence mentioning that “the hill was alive”… makes me want to sing :P
hehehe… i did initially type “the hill is alive” and then realised i was committing grammatical error :p
on the other hand i was a bit bummed that i didn’t think of going to place de la concorde before heading to montmartre. it was first stop in my plan, but due to sleepiness, we took wrong metro out and ended up arriving in louvre first. then it just slipped my mind. booo.
Gorg photos…. really capture the muffled silence of the day!
thanks sylvia! well it was sunday – perfect for wrapping up at home for a lazy day with a cuppa hot chocolate ;)
ooooo…so nicee…..winter wonderland…pristine n quiet especially the one at Louvre…and there’s a snow monster this time too hehehe ;)
okie…since there is a couple discount…so lets get on with your research lil!
quiet in the morning but later in the day i think there were more people out. by then i was nicely snuggling up at home in hoodies jumper and ugly comfy pants :p
hehehe…
Nice photos! I love the one with snow as white background and the red and green umbrellas.
thanks! there is something wonderful about seeing colours when it’s uniformly white/grey otherwise. it reminds us that life has splashes of colour at every turn, if we just look for it ;)
Beautiful photos. Especially love number 7 – so peaceful and with a timeless quality to it.
thanks carina – and did you get my email last week?
nice snowman! anybody i know? :rolleyes:
lol… the blob from the ghostbusters? ;)