Paris under snow, what a magical sight…

It’s been snowing in Paris and amazingly the snow is staying so the whole city is white white white!

paris snow eiffel tower michele roohani

I had to meet a friend for lunch in Montparnasse; no bus was running in Paris yesterday so I had to take the metro which was deserted:

paris metro deserted michele roohani

it was me and the live statue of a king…

living statue michele roohani

The famous cafés of Montparnasse, like Le Select (once the haunt of Hemingway, Picasso and Henry Miller) were kind of empty,

cafe select in snow michele roohani

La Coupole was not much better,

coupole sous la neige michele harper

so we settled on some mean steak and frites and Entrecôte:

entrecote michele roohani

Who can say no to that?

2009-06-16-Le-Relais-De-Venise-L'Entrecote-steak

I said goodbye to my friend and decided to go and take some pictures of the city under snow.

saint michel sous neige michele roohani

It snowed on bikes,

bikes snow paris michele roohani

and on flowers,

primrose snow paris michele roohani

and the café tables:

café tables paris snow michele roohani

The bouquinistes (booksellers of used and antiquarian books) had stayed home but the Notre Dame cathedral was open to me and others.

bouquiniste neige snow michele roohani

Still majestic after 800 winters!

notre dame under snow paris michele roohani

It was glorious inside; I particularly love its three large rosettes. These examples of technical and artistic genius were constructed in the 13th century. The largest two measure 13 metres in diameter:

notre dame de paris michele roohani

I was giddy by the time I left – snow makes most people like that. It reminds me of my childhood in Tehran and cancelled school days! I took a picture of myself with the Saint Michel bridge behind me.

michele roohani pont saint michele snow

I would have been happier if it wasn’t for the stupid love padlocks! They have invaded the Pont des Arts (Art Bridge)  and now it’s all the other bridges’ turn…

padlocks cadenas pont paris michele harper

The Conciergerie (where the notorious Marie Antoinette was held before being decapitated in 1793) looked beautiful in spite of the recent Disneyesque cleaning of its façade. I liked it better when it had some of its original grime…

conciergerie snow paris michele roohani

I took the metro again to go to Trocadero:

metro paris snow michele roohani

You see many things when taking the Parisian metro – some are very nice like this poster advertising an exhibition about Shahrzad and her ” Thousand and One Nights” at the World Arabe Institute:

shahrzad institut arabe paris michele roohani

and some more realistic ones like these homeless men sleeping…

homeless paris metro michele roohani

By the time I got out it had stopped snowing,

metro sign paris michele roohani

and the beautiful Eiffel tower was on time for her rendez-vous with me:

palais chaillot eiffel michele roohani

These gilded statues each had a live bird on them:

guilded statues chaillot paris eiffel michele harper

but the only one close enough for me to take a picture of was this little sparrow:

sparrow moineau snow paris michele roohani

And of course everybody could take their own tower home:

eiffel souvenirs michele roohani

I didn’t buy any but I started writing this blog to share it with you looking out from time to time to the melting snow.

home michele roohani snow