1. For all the songs alluding to springtime in Paris, it turns out that spring is a rather elusive thing here. Some years, it comes several times (there’s a French proverb that says, “En avril, ne te découvre pas d’un fil.” – In April, don’t remove a thread.) Some years, it doesn’t come at all, as with the year my poor father came to Paris for ten days in May; it rained torrentially for all ten. But some years, like this year, the flowers bloom, the temperatures rise to 65 for days on end, and you get views like this.
2. In recent years, especially, we’ve been treated to freak warm days followed by flash freezes, confusing all the poor flowers. But this year, I got the chance to see the flower buds on the trees below Sacré Coeur, in Montmartre.
3. It was still a bit chilly and overcast when these beautiful pink blossoms bloomed in the garden behind the Palais-Royal.
4. It seems like those pictures were taken longer than a week ago: now, everything is blooming and green. The Champ de Mars is verdant, though the actual lawn is still blocked off to give it time to grow. This summer, people will take to it in throngs, trodding on the grass and laying out picnic blankets to pop bottles of Champagne and bask in the glow of the Eiffel Tower.
5. It’s no secret that summer is my favorite season; the Country Boy doesn’t call me “the girl of summer” for nothing. (Nor, for that matter, does he call me that because I was born in June). But since spring has graced us with a true arrival this year, I can’t help but revel in it, for now.