Bonjour from snowy France! You may have heard it’s been quite a wintry weather experience here the past few weeks. And it came on rather suddenly after a very mild December and January. In fact, I thought spring was just around the corner since our flowering cherry trees were starting to bloom and the daffodils were more than halfway up. Then it snowed…and snowed. Here in our village of Courances south of Paris, we were almost ‘snowed in’ for about a week in early February. Then this morning, it started snowing again in the wee hours and we woke up to another white wonderland. But this may be the last of the white stuff as temperatures are set to warm up starting tomorrow. Just in time too as our ‘Paris Insider Shopping Trip’ group arrives Monday for the start of our whirlwind insider cultural experience of this incredible city!
In any case, the snow has been absolutely beautiful and such a different way of ‘seeing the French countryside’ so I thought I’d share a virtual ‘walking tour’ of our French village and environs covered in the blankets of white. You can just imagine the peaceful silence accompanying the images. And our sweet French dog Marcel adores la neige – he can hardly wait to go outside and start eating the white powder. You’ll see him playing in his winter amusement park, aka my French garden… So grab your coat and ear muffs, and let’s take a snowy walk in the French countryside!
Snowy walk in the village
Day of sun and snow in my French garden
The Chateau and Park of Courances
Geese in the snow at sunset
Nice spot for a hot mulled wine station, don’t you think?
The Chateau de Courances’ ‘sister chateau’ in the neighboring village of Fleury-en-Biere
Our Monsieur Marcel surveying his winter domain, aka my French garden
And if you want to see French dog eating snow out of my daffodils, you can take a peek at the video on the French Affaires Instagram feed at french_affaires. At least he didn’t eat the plants!
French Affaires Travel Program Update
For yet another way of seeing France from a completely different perspective, we’re offering the special “France Photography Workshop: Seeing Paris and the Loire Valley Through a Photographer’s Eyes” from October 12 to 20 of this year. This exclusive France travel experience will feature celebrated French photographer Eric Sander who will lead our creative journey to enhance your photography skills and photo portfolio with an unforgettable insider’s view of France!
For more than 30 years, Eric Sander’s photographs have been regularly published in some of the best magazines worldwide and in more than 50 books. Today, Eric mainly works on assignment for private estate owners (extraordinary homes, vineyards and great gardens), magazines (Figaro magazine, Smithsonian..), publishers (Flammarion, Acte Sud, Xavier Barral Editions, Ulmer, Gourcuff Gradenigo, Rustica), landscape designers (Louis Benech), interior designers (Jacques Garcia), and major events (Garden and Contemporary Art Festival in Chaumont-Sur-Loire). www.ericsander.com
Our trip group size is limited for a fully hands-on and rich creative, cultural and travel experience. For the trip itinerary and registration details, please email us at e.new (at) frenchaffaires.com. Photo credits: Eric Sander private collection.