Snowing in Paris. Again.

Ummm, wasn't it March last time I checked?

So why is it freaking snowing in Paris?!!!!!! Like big snow, crazy wind, sticking to the ground, making life slippery and cold and brrrrrrrrrr. 

Snow.

It started this morning and by lunchtime was in full force. Paris just about shut down, because while Paris is a lot of things, what it is not is efficient in inclement weather (or really just anytime for that matter). Romantic walk along the Seine with a glass of wine? Paris delivers. Terraces full of café-goers on a sunny Saturday? Paris takes the cake. A lovely garden with fountains, statues and guards yelling at you to get off the grass? You got it. Trains that are working during a snowstorm? Paris is not your gal.

I got a call at 7:30am while I was lying in the Cloud Bed checking up on the lives of my fascinating friends on Facebook. It was my colleague/friend who lives out in the boondocks AKA: Melun. He had left his house at 6:50 to be in Paris by 9am...ummmmm one more point for living in Paris! He was worried that he wouldn't get to work on time and asked me if I could be sure to be there to open. As I reassured him that it was no problem, I wondered if I could even Vélib in this crazytown weather.

I reluctantly left the Cloud Bed and put my morning prep on full speed - listening all the while to the radio go on and on about Parisians stuck on the highways, stuck in the trains, probably freezing to death because of the snow. Snow, snow, snow!  The French love to talk about the weather, so today was a radio weather field day. 

Sure enough, the Velibs were frozen! It was metro for Cannes Cannes this morning, and I crossed my fingers, praying that I wouldn't get stuck in a frozen metro car on my way to work. 

As announcements about problematic lines echoed through the metro and people piled up through the tunnels, I searched frantically for the exit signs, just in case. Just in case what? Just in case there is a fire at this very moment, or a bomb or a fight or a panic, or...oh god. This is why I Vélib, people. 

I watched the snow fall all day in my little office, even braving the RER B in the early afternoon for a meeting. Somehow though, by the end of the day, I had momentary memory loss and decided to WALK HOME.

(not visible: cah-razy snow fall...)

(not visible: small icicles forming on the letter slots)

As I fought the wind and blinked back the ice particles repeatedly hitting my eyeballs, I kept thinking how great the metro would have been at a time like this. Funny what sub-zero temperatures will do to people. I arrived at the front door covered with snow from head to foot, and while scolding me for not using an umbrella and showing up looking like I'd gotten in a snowball fight,  Copain made me half undress on the landing as he took each article of clothing from me and carefully hung it up to dry.

It is now 11pm and guess what? It's still snowing. 

All I have to say is that Paris had better deliver this spring. I'm thinking tulip-lined gardens, perhaps a walk along the Seine, and a glass of wine en terrasse.

PS - Vie de Parisien nailed it.