A day of almost 40°C

This week has been the hottest one during this year in Paris. And I truly hope we don't get a new record anymore... Monday afternoon the temperature reached past 30°C but Tuesday and Wednesday it luckily stayed under that. Yesterday it got to 32°C again and today it is probably the hottest I have ever been to in my life, when Accuweather forecast said it was 39°C in the late afternoon. And lucky me who gets to cycle through that heat to go to work! Or not so lucky... I do prefer riding the electric city bikes compared to taking trains because the trains are like saunas in the summer and now we also have to wear a mask in those. Unfortunately though, I just didn't have a chance to take a bike today on my way to work. All the well-working electric velibs (the city bikes) were taken before me. That is always the down-side. You can never know if you'll find a not-broken or not-out-of-battery e-bike.

Luckily it got cloudy in the afternoon
but unfortunately the thunderstorm
never came. Rain would be needed.

Today I was sweating already before going anywhere when the thermometer showed 28°C in our small apartment. I would like to buy our freezer full of ice-creams but it is so tiny that I can barely fit one package in between other food. I also wish French super markets would sell single ice-creams like they do in Finland. Here the smallest box includes 4 cones so I cannot go and buy one to eat when walking on the streets. The only things to keep our home cooler are our small machine blowing cool air (and in the winter it also is our source of the heat) and the upstairs neighbor's balcony that nicely creates a shadow over our glass door. Our landlord in the next door has worse luck of having no balcony above his back door. That is why we often see his "iron curtain" pulled down to prevent afternoon sun shining straight inside.

Our small "air con" is the only thing that
keeps us a bit cooler at home.

Having this kind of "iron curtain"
for doors and windows is very
common in France. I am used to
think these are for stores, not homes.

Anyway, I survived the work today, and there are also some positive sides of the hot weather. I could wash two rounds of laundry because the first batch dried up before the second one was washed. A perfect day to wash also our blanket. In addition, our chili seems to like getting lots of sunshine because after 2 months of waiting it is finally turning red! I was already giving up the hope it would ever change the color because the biggest one has been 15-20 cm long for weeks and weeks. Nevertheless, our chili is almost the only nice thing in our garden now. The leaves have dramatically fallen down during this hot week and the grass is getting even more yellow, losing any greenness in it.

The chili getting red, the grass getting
dry and the tree getting bold.

Today was a perfect day to do more laundry before going to work.

We were drawing with the
almost-2-year-old at their
grandparents'. I am happy their house
is very cool even on these weathers.

I also went swimming at work for a couple of times this week.
Cooperation with the kids' grandparents is so great!

Strasbourg

I still have almost 3 weeks of work before starting my summer vacation. This year I do it the typical French way and have August off. Because of the shorter vacation time and the fact that I spent 7 weeks in Finland due to the corona, I won't spend this summer with my family and friends back there. Instead, we plan to visit some different places in France. I have hardly visited other towns outside Paris even though I have already lived here for quite some time. So better do it now that I still am here.

Last Tuesday was Bastille Day, the French national day. That obviously is a free day for everyone and H thought he could also take the previous Monday off, as well. What a good time to check one town in France! Because we hope to head to the sea when we have some proper vacation, we decided to go to the East this time. We both had been in Strasbourg once before, but since neither of us remembered too much of it, we thought it is a good destination for an over-night visit.

Sitting 3 hours in a train from Gare de l'Est to the border of Germany could be a bit more pleasant if you didn't need to wear a mask all the time but that's how things are here now. Strasbourg itself seemed more quiet when it lacked tourists that I imagine usually fill its streets. Now there were just some French and German people and randomly people from UK or other European countries. We didn't complain because it meant shorter lines to churches, boat cruises and ice-cream kiosks.

Strasbourg cathedral

The square in front of the cathedral was one of the places that
actually had quite some people already.

Saint-Pierre Le Jeune church

The cloister yard at the Saint-Pierre Le Jeune

Petite France quarter

We took a cruise on the canals of Petite France and Neustadt.

European Parliament

We ordered popular dishes of
Strasbourg: tarte flambée and
choucroute (Sauerkraut in German).

The city of Strasbourg was lovely with lots of flowers, churches and the river. Surely worth of visiting but I wouldn't stay there for many days. A weekend trip was just good. It was nice to get somewhere else for a change. Paris offers a lot but when you live here, you kind of get blind to many things that you might otherwise find interesting. Every now and then I have to remind myself that I actually live (almost) in Paris.

This view on my way to work (when cycling) always brings me
back to the fact that I am in Paris.

Many Parisians enjoy the life normally already and the safety distance
is neglected when you can dance next to Seine. Wearing a mask is
mandatory in the transport and since yesterday also in stores, but
otherwise life is more or less back to normal here.

The summer here has been quite good for now. Temperature has reached 30 for some days but luckily we have had cooler days and weeks in between, too. One thing I really really wish now is rain. I don't remember when it rained here but it must be over a month, at least. Our lovely garden is changing from green to yellow and all the leaves in the bushes and in the tree look so poor. I am afraid the leaves would fall down because of the dryness, like last year... We carry water for the bushes almost daily but I don't know how long that would be helpful if this continues. Soon the only green things on our garden are the flowers and herbs we are growing.

Our poor yard is in a desperate need of a proper rain...