Day 10 Walking in a winter wonderland

After a couple of wonderful trips to Europe and the UK in summer we had often wondered what it would be like to travel to this part of the world in winter. We are quickly finding out. By all reports Europe is experiencing it coldest winter in 30 years. Winter, to be honest, is a challenge but we note the following:

1. Inside our apartment we are much warmer than we are inside our own house in winter. Double gazing and central heating means that our apartment remains a very warm environment and we have actually had to turn down the heater at night so that we sleep more soundly. Inside, we never feel cold at all.

2. The daylight hours are short as the sun doesn’t come up until 8.30am and is well and truly down by 5.30pm

3. Going out does require a little preparation. For Richard this will include a lightweight quick-dry t-shirt, a second woollen thermal t-shirt, a thermal jumper and then a down jacket. Thermal long johns also make a big difference under a pair of lightweight jeans. A beanie on your head, and either gloves for your hands, or your hands plunged deep into your pockets, completes the preparation. Wendy also adds a warm woolly scarf. Once fully attired in all of this gear it is quite pleasant outside, except that your face nearly freezes and after awhile you can’t move your lips to pronounce the letter w

4. We are still able to walk around but depending on the amount of wind and sun determines how long you can be outside. In the last few days the temperature hasn’t risen above -1.

5. We have had quite a bit of snow but this hasn’t prevented us from going outside. The snow is fun but makes walking difficult as the pavements become quite slippery.

We have taken the opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with some of Paris’s most famous attractions. A walk down the Champs Elysees was wonderful in spite of a very slippery sidewalk. Walking to the Eiffel Tower through a fair bit of snow was a bit like walking on sand – it was quite tiring.

The Eiffel Tower looked gracious as always framed against a clear, cold sky and although the snow had stopped falling the tower was closed to tourists because of snow and ice. You would be very disappointed if you were only in Paris for one day and your one chance to go up the tower was denied because of winter weather. So there is a price to pay for visiting Europe at this time of the year, however the up side is that most places are quieter, queues are shorter and there is still plenty to do inside.

4.