Autumn in Paris

Paris in the fall has to work a bit to be romantic and/or delightful.  Why?  Well, it rains a lot.  Not buckets of rain very often (or as you say in French, raining ropes:  il tombe des cordes), but it rains several times a week on and off.  Of course, the sun may shine inbetween for part of the day, which is very heartening.  You learn to take an umbrella everywhere.  There are nice small ones sold all over Paris.

So a sunny fall day, especially when it is 20 degrees C (68 degrees F) is pretty special.  These photos were taken today in my favorite park (the Jardin du Luxembourg) at lunchtime.  The flowers are still in bloom but some are a little past peak.

While you can see some colored trees in the scene above, for the most part Paris does not have the autumn colors that I have enjoyed all the years of my life in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.  But it continues to be warm enough to sit in the park.  Parisiennes are generally more determined than I am--they will sit out on what I consider a chilly day with a heavy jacket.  But today I walked in shirt sleeves in the park, and most folks were wearing coats!  Ah, Paris in the fall!