Quick as a bunny
A man rides his snowboard down a street in Montmartre on Wednesday in Paris. Heavy snowfall has caused major travel disruption in northern France as the weather conditions caught the authorities off guard.
PARIS — Skiers swished down the hilly streets of Montmartre in Paris on Wednesday, taking advantage of heavy snowfall that otherwise spelled misery for thousands of travelers.
Nearly 2,000 people in the Paris region had to spend Tuesday night in their cars, after the snow caused traffic jams that stretched a record 740 kilometers and left hundreds of others stuck at airports and train stations.
The icy roads of Paris were unusually quiet after 12 centimeters was dumped on the French capital overnight, with up to 20 cm reported in nearby suburbs and rural areas.
The snow played havoc with public transport, halting almost all buses in the capital along with some tram and commuter rail lines, while heavy goods vehicles were banned from major roads due to the high risk of an accident.
Police on Twitter urged motorists to leave their cars at home again on Thursday.
But the wintry weather was a delight for schoolchildren as well as skiers and snowboarders who gathered at the Sacre-Coeur basilica at the top of Montmartre, the hill in the north of the city.
They managed to get in about an hour of runs in the morning on the steep slopes of the park that descends from the church before being chased off by the police.
“The snow is good, a little powdery, not as great as in 2010 but 2010 was historic,” said Gilles Prunevielle, founder of the “Montmartre Ski Club”.
Tourists in the City of Lights found the Eiffel Tower closed for a second day, while the capital’s airports were hit with delays and cancellations.
On the outskirts of Paris, rescuers worked to evacuate nearly 2,000 people who were stranded overnight on the N118 highway.
National forecaster Meteo France said the temperatures were set to fall further into Thursday, freezing the heavy snow in place and making conditions more treacherous.