Sunday 25 October 2009

Rainy Days and Sundays

Paris is a Northern city that thinks it is in the South, a Latin soul stuck in the wrong climate. Magnificent when the sun is out, it is a little less appealing when the skies open. There is an art to adapting to rainy skies and cold snaps, and Paris has never had that knack. The city of fashion is just not interested in doing warm and comfortable sweaters and sensible footwear.

Why this should be when Paris has over three times as much rain as London is a mystery. The city is a show-off, always presenting her best side to passers by and keeping nothing aside for a rainy day.

It rained on Saturday. Inner-city blues.

Sunday. Never has a day been so aptly named. An extra hour in bed, and waking up to blue skies. Paris will be back to her best again, presenting her finest angles to the low lying sun.
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16 comments:

  1. Therese Cox26 October 2009 at 02:50

    Beautiful photographs, Adam. This post made me wish to be in Paris even more than usual. My very first glimpse of Paris was on a day where it rained non-stop, so in my head, it is always raining and always beautiful in Paris. Just as it is always snowing in New York City.

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  2. Kcalpesh26 October 2009 at 05:22

    Superb shots! Those are water pearls in the first picture and a lovely shadow in the second one!!! Absolutely enjoying your blog!

    - Pixellicious Photos

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  3. Unknown26 October 2009 at 09:04

    I like to think that a rainy day in Paris still far exceeds a rainy day in the US but the dichotomy between sunny and rainy days in Paris is too substantial. Sunshine in Paris makes you feel like everything is right and beautiful in the world but the rain provokes a sharp melancholy. At least for me anyway.

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  4. Cergie26 October 2009 at 14:06

    Ton message montre bien la relativité de la perception. Bah ! Londres a un plus mauvais climat que Paris ne t'en déplaise ! Les chiffres ne veulent rien dire ! Mieux ne vaut-il pas une bonne semaine d'averse de temps en temps et ensuite du grand beau temps qu'un crachin fin et perçant et un fog perpétuel ?
    Mais cela ne fait rien, j'aime bien ta mauvaise foi et ton parti pris, il n'empêche que j'aime aussi tes deux photos, la nébuleuse de pluie nacrée et celle du soleil en N&B sur les pavés.

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  5. ArtSparker26 October 2009 at 16:25

    Oh well, at least there are the negative ions cleaning the air...the gateway photo is stunning.

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  6. Ken Mac27 October 2009 at 00:39

    fantastic light!

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  7. Starman27 October 2009 at 02:37

    If only it could last more than a day or two.

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  8. PeterParis27 October 2009 at 10:22

    Aren't you a bit unfair here! :-) The rain can fall differently, a little every day or... It rains three times more (in ml) in Nice than in Paris! :-)

    Anyhow, the sun is back!!

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  9. Tim27 October 2009 at 15:10

    Woah, three times more in Nice than in Paris, where it rains three times more than in London. That would make Nice nine times rainier than London!

    Peter, I know I could google this, but I've always been more used to rainfall being measured in millimetres rather than millilitres. How do the figures compare? Average rainfall in Paris in October is apparently 56mm.

    And long may the sun "reign"...

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  10. rosedale's 4head27 October 2009 at 15:42

    beautiful photo!

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  11. Adam27 October 2009 at 15:48

    I'm not sure what I've started here! Yep, I'm certainly unfair Peter, and more than a little 'mauvaise foi' Cergie, but I know very little about the statistics of it all! Strangely enough, Saturday was one of those English style drizzly days rather than a torrential downpour which is quickly over, and I just don't particularly like Paris in that weather. If anyone can tell me a cosy place to go when it's wet and cold I'd gladly try it out! Restaurants and bars keep their terraces open in the damp though, and the insides are all cold tiled floors and chilly drafts, and museums are carefully chiselled but cavernous.

    Sometimes I really miss pubs!

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  12. emmanuel27 October 2009 at 21:35

    All right, then go to "Chez Gladine", on the "Rue des cinq diamants" (the street's name should already make you dream). Not a pub, but a bistro, with cheap and nice food. It's always full, as we say in french: "c'est à la bonne franquette!".
    By the way, where to find in Paris a proper british pub not to expensive? Cause that's the problem there, you're broke after two pints of ale...

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  13. Nathalie H.D.28 October 2009 at 10:52

    I completely agree with you on this one Adam. Paris is a city that's always pretending. I worked in Paris and were never able to understand how girls could wear shoes so totally unsuited to the weather. Mais la parisienne doit être élégante, alors tant pis pour le froid et la pluie. Mon refuge contre le mauvais temps : le métro. Il y fait chaud l'hiver, c'est bien.

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  14. Nathalie H.D.28 October 2009 at 10:53

    Cela dit Cergie a raison, j'aime beaucoup tes photos et je soupçonne tes statistiques d'être truquées. Je n'échangerais pas le climat de Paris pour celui de Londres. Ose me dire que toi oui ???!!!???

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  15. Adam28 October 2009 at 11:45

    Ah non, Nathalie, je ne dis pas que je prefère le climat de Londres! Pas contre, les villes du nord ont toujours un petit côté cosy, et quand il fait pas beau (comme souvent...) il y a plein d'endroits sympa et chaud où on peu aller. Ce que je dis c'est qu'à Paris - plus une ville du nord que du sud - rien n'est prevu pour les mauvais temps.

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  16. Anonymous4 November 2009 at 05:26

    the last few posts you've made on here are truly lovely.

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