A few days ago, we walked early in the morning across the Park of Maisons-Laffitte and spotted these delicate white flowers known as ‘snowdrops’. Here are a few photos…
Snowdrops in France
On that morning, we walked approximately 4 kilometres across the vast park of Maisons-Laffitte, here pictured the perspective from Place Napoléon to Place Wagram.
Our little white flowers were spotted just on the left.
The French word for snowdrop is ‘perce-neige’ (pierce-the-snow)… still very romantic!
Snowdrops generally flower towards Winter’s end, hence ‘piercing through the snow’ (perce-neige). There was no snowfall this Winter in Paris, but the little snowdrops somehow found their way in growing… piercing through the dead leaves!
A Russian fairy-tale
The white flowers always remind me of a story I learnt to read in Primary school. Based on a Russian fairy tale (The Twelve Months), it tells us of a young orphan girl sent out during a snowstorm by her cruel stepmother.
In the middle of the forest, she found the spirits of the 12 months of the year, who took pity on her and saved her from freezing to death and made it possible for her to gather snowdrops in the dead of winter.
