Saturday 10 January 2009

Snow from above

Jardin des DomsFew of you would have seen the Pont d'Avignon in those circumstances. Isn't it nice? The traffic was extremely slow but not completely interrupted. What the photo fails to convey is the blizzard-like mistral that was throwing snow about in a frenzy of freezing gusts. It was truly heroic of me to stand up there. I took my photo and ran. There is no snow on the trees because they were shaken like hell.

Peu d'entre vous connaissent le Pont d'Avignon couvert d'un manteau blanc. Le trafic n'était pas interrompu mais très ralenti. Ce que la photo ne rend pas, c'est le mistral violent qui soufflait en blizzard, jetant la neige en bouffées glaciales. S'il n'y a pas de neige sur les arbres, c'est qu'ils étaient violemment secoués par la tourmente. C'était héroïque de ma part de rester là-haut : j'ai pris ma photo et je me suis sauvée en courant !
Somewhat protected from the wind, the Sainte Anne stairs lead down to Sainte Catherine street (yeah yeah saints are everywhere here). These school kids were having a full swing snow ball battle, it was fun to watch. Behind them, the very white roofs belong to what used to be Avignon's house of arrest, now shut down and replaced by new premises a few kilometres out of town. The walls have been for sale for more than a year now. The government's master plan is to have the place refurbished as a five star hotel but no buyer is on the ranks yet.

Un peu à l'abri du vent, les escaliers Sainte Anne descendent vers la rue Sainte Catherine (oui, les saints sont partout ici !). Les lycéens faisaient une bataille de boule de neige bien sympa à regarder. Les toits très blancs derrière eux sont ceux de l'ancienne maison d'arrêt, aujourd'hui désaffectée et transférée dans des locaux modernes au Pontet à quelques kilomètres d'ici. Les murs sont à vendre depuis plus d'un an, les autorités rêvent de voir les lieux transformés en hôtel cinq étoiles mais aucun acheteur ne s'est encore présenté.
And if you're a regular follower of this blog, this view will be familiar, I posted a very similar photo on December 30th : see Rooftops in winter. You'll probably recognise the church tower and tall plane trees but snow changes everything, doesn't it?

Et si vous suivez ce blog régulièrement, cette vue vous sera familière, j'ai posté une photo très similaire de ces toits le 30 décembre dernier, voir ici. Vous reconnaitrez sans doute le clocher et les grands platanes, mais la neige change tout, n'est-ce-pas ?

25 comments:

Cymbaline said...

Wow, Nathalie! These snow photos are really striking. It's amazing how different a place looks with a change as simple as snow.
I live in Seattle,Washington USA and we have had snow also-unusual for us!
Love your blog:)

Cymbaline

FotoMarg said...

Nathalie, you are very dedicated to giving us such lovely photos even in very cold weather and especially since the mistral was blowing so strongly. It must have increased the wind chill factor substantially. The snow in yesterday's photo looks as though it reached quite a few centimetres. Do the children do things like toboggan down hills as well as have snow fights?

Squirrel said...

Very pretty.But the Mistral is like our Nor'Easter it can get violent!

We are expecting snow and I'm very hopeful in will be deep! Last winter on this day it was 65 degrees. Normal is 30 + snow.

Lately some people here treat 2 inches of snow like a disaster, like it's a snowstorm that will rip up your house and carry it away. Winter+ NY equaling snow is not unusual.

claude said...

Avignon est aussi belle sous la neige que sous le soleil.
Je crois que c'est une année à neige. Ma nièce Alex m'a envoyé des photos de sa true à marseille sous la neige. J'en profite de parler d'elle pour te dire qu'elle a provisoirement abandonné son blog car elle s'occupe de son papa, âgé, qui est très malade.
Pour sortir un peu de ce temps gris/blanc, je vais poster de la couleur.

Anonymous said...

Dans le jardin, encore un peu de neige qui va sans doute fondre aujourd'hui... et puis le vent à calé, reste le soleil qui donne ce matin une bien belle lumière.
Merci d'avoir bravé le mistral pour nous!

Anonymous said...

jolie série d'Avignon sous la neige , quel changement !

waldviertelleben said...

wounderful your blog. and snow in your city!
in austria we are used to have a lot of snow.

Anonymous said...

De belles images de neige mais pourquoi je n'arrive pas à voir la première, Le jardin des Doms?

Virginia said...

I knew your snow photos would be gorgeous and they ARE! oh my goodness. You have taken full advantage of this weather. Merci!

Maxime said...

Pas beaucoup de soleil, en plus... je te trouve bien courageuse. Le fragile petit oiseau des îles que je suis va rester au chaud, et solder ses photos de la semaine dernière.
Tiens, du reste, je vais me préparer un thé bien chaud pour me remettre de ma visite.

Anonymous said...

From your description and enthusiasm, I take it that you do not have much snow. We get it a lot and usually freezing rain either before or after it snows.

Clueless in Boston said...

Very pretty wintry scene. I don't feel too badly for you though living in an area that gets its fair share of winter.

In Boston they turned a jail into a hotel and restaurant, so there is a market for things like that. Me, I try to avoid places like that, jails, not restaurants:)

Anonymous said...

Tiens, l'image du pont a disparu...

Nathalie H.D. said...

I have reloaded the top photo, I hope it opens up for everyone now. Not sure what happened...

Adam said...

Fascinating photos. I've never seen the bridge in snowy conditions before, but neither have I seen the busy dual-carriageway passing underneath it!

I like the idea of a prison becoming a top class hotel!

chri said...

Maintenant, je la vois cette image... Il eût été dommage de la manquer!!!

Nathalie H.D. said...

Adam, most photographers try their best to hide the traffic side of things when they takes pictures of the pont d'Avignon - as I have myself in the past.

But in this instance the snow makes the photo really interesting and the benefit of it by far outweighs the negative effect of seeing cars around.

Bergson said...

lorsqu'il y a de la neige à Avignon c'est les voitures qui glissent en rond
et peut être pas que sur le pont !!

Chuck Pefley said...

Snow makes everything look so different ... fresh looking :)

Julie said...

These are such interesting images to compare with those that I took myself last October, Nathalie. Your city is very beautiful in either guise.

Anonymous said...

Yes the picture is back.

Singing : « Bridge back, bridge back, bridge back my picture to me, to me... »

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

No way would I have gone down those snowy steps!

MmeBenaut said...

Perfect view of the circle road and rooftops. The snow looks incredible. I also adore the country scenes. I'm so attracted to empty, desolate looking places. I think it is because there are no people to detract from the magnificent beauty of nature. Thank you Nathalie.

Anonymous said...

magnifique le pont sous la neige, magnifique !

Sally said...

One Blogging Bravery Award heading your way!

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