Ah, the European Spring!

It is often said that Australia is the poorer for a lack of defined seasons. And nowhere are the seasons more defined than in Europe. White winter snow, brown trees and grey skies give way to an abundance of spring greenery, flowers and a general explosion of life that is simply not experienced in Australia.

Since we've been here, we've had the pleasure of seeing fields full of flowers of various colours, storks precariously perched on power poles, young swallows being raised and various other trappings of a European spring. And although we got off to a somewhat cold start in Vienna, we consistently enjoyed 30-odd degree days in Hungary.



However, despite these many advantages, it would seem that the picture is not completely rosey. The abundance of flowers, pollen and flying seeds can bring on allergies previously unknown, which in some (unfortunate) people (who shall remain unnamed), are the cause of hives. We also recently discovered, to our great distress, that our expectation of a pleasant and indefinite continuation of 30-degree days was, to say the least, somewhat ill-conceived. This particular misconception was disposed of after our flight from from Vienna to Paris, where the local maximum has hovered around 12 degrees Celcius since we arrived.

The experience of the temperamental nature of northern European weather has brought to the fore previously-repressed memories of my year on exchange in Denmark. One such memory in particular stands out: me in Copenhagen on June 30 (which happened to be a warm - 15 degrees C - summer's day complete with strong winds and rain), desperately waiting for a bus to take me to (minimally) warmer Berlin, and pitying the Danes and other persons living in the far north of Europe who get to enjoy two winters (one white, one green) per year.

Despite all this, I know that although it is cold now, things will warm up (and on the bright side, it has been mostly sunny in Paris today - as you can see below, we are cold but happy) and we'll be heading steadily south in two day's time to soak up the Mediterranean sun.