White, Cold winter

I have seen snow before but usually it snows in the night and I have never seen snow fall before. On my business trip to Paris this time I had the opportunity to see snow fall. It snowed 2 days out of 5 day we were in Paris and on the second day of snowing it was snowed badly. So much so that the motorway was completely snowed in, the airport was closed momentarily and as we left Paris there were still many road snowed in.

The first day it snowed, but it wasn't that heavy and it just barely covered the floor. It was all fun and cool because it was the first time I saw snow fall. It snowed lightly for about 2 hours or so and then it stopped. Quite a few people walked outside to take pictures of the snow but on the second day it really snowed in.

It snowed for almost the entire day and I think it snowed a good 4-5 inches of snow and it caused havoc as the roads were slippery as heck and we saw quite a few car accidents while we were in the train. Since many of the roads were closed or jam packed, many people turned to the public transport and the train was packed to the busting point. The queue to purchase tickets was so extremely long that they decided to give free rides to Gare Du Nord which is the main train station in Paris. We managed to find our way home and instead of going out for dinner, my colleague volunteered to cook dinner. This is the view outside my colleague's hotel room.

On the final day of exhibition, we were graced with fantastic weather where it didn't snow or rain. We had perfectly clear skies but then of course paid for it because it was extremely cold instead. This is the aftermath of the crazy day of snowing.

 

On the day where all of us were to fly to our next destination we were all praying that it won't snow and delay the flights. This is the effect of the heavy snow and the cold temperature. On the day we were suppose to fly off which was 2 days after the heavy snow, there was still ice on the tables.

We managed to get to the airport safely, but we had to take an alternative road because of snowed in roads and luckily the GPS managed to route us to the airport. This is the first time I have seen snow on the tarmac in the airport.

Since the weather was still really cold, the plane had to be de-iced before it could take off. Again since this is my first time I was super Jakun and decided to take some pictures.

They had 2 trucks with weird nozzles coming up to the plane's wing and tail to spray this weird pinkish liquid. Once the liquid hit the wing's surface the entire area was misted up and I actually saw piece of ice falling off the wing. It took about 10 minutes and then we were cleared to take off.

Took some pictures of Paris frozen over from the plane as well. Although I still hate Paris to the guts, this time it was a different experience as I felt the pain when it snowed heavily in the city. Usually you see snow in the movies and you think it is all fun and games. However when you are there it is such a pain as everything becomes so much harder including walking. I almost fell a couple of times but amazingly none of us Malaysians fell flat on our butts and we didn't even have adequate shoes for the snow. It was a great experience.