Winter scenery of the fountains in the Champs-Élysées Gardens.

The bustling crowds on the Champs-Élysées.

The grand spectacle of long queues for the special retrospective exhibition of Courbet at the Grand Palais.

A scene from the train exhibition in front of the Grand Palais.

Paris winters are always gloomy and gray. Going out is a bit cold, but as long as you wear a coat, put on a cotton hat, and wrap yourself in a scarf to keep warm, everything is fine. It does not affect people's daily routines or general activities. The scenery of Paris in winter, under the gray sky (of course, there are sunny days that make one feel full of vitality), appears exceptionally tasteful. Just look at the paintings of the French Impressionist school; their works are invariably elegant, adding a touch of gray tone to all the bright colors. This aesthetic of gray tones is particularly prominent and charming in Paris, covering the entire metropolis with a layer of poetic grayness, making people feel exceptionally ethereal.

The back gardens of the City of Flowers also appear more exquisite. There are few people strolling for leisure or tourists, except for the Luxembourg Gardens and the Tuileries Garden, which are favorites of Parisians and tourists (and of course, the Versailles gardens). In these back gardens, the colorful flower beds lose their color and charm. The treetops in the woods or along the tree-lined paths have long shed their leaves, returning to the roots, making the branchy lines more prominent. The pond mirrors reflecting water light and shadows become clearer and brighter (freezing with a thin layer of ice when too cold). A few ducks and waterbirds wander leisurely within, full of poetry. The fountains have long ceased flowing. Couples in love or strollers seem fewer, and the laughter of children playing in the playgrounds is less frequent. Statues of celebrities appear lonely. Occasionally, you might encounter poets wandering under the trees seeking inspiration. All these sketch the scenery of the back gardens of the City of Flowers in winter.

The world-famous Champs-Élysées remains bustling in winter. From the magnificent Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde, the tree-lined avenue is filled with crowds. As a must-visit place for tourist cities, whether day or night, the entire avenue is as prosperous and busy as a night market. Especially when the lights first come on, dazzling like a galaxy, this avenue always amazes tourists from around the world. This is the enchanting charm of Paris.

Art exhibitions in front of the Grand and Petit Palais seem even more attractive in winter. Parisian arts and culture always add a considerable amount of humanistic atmosphere. This winter specially featured the retrospective exhibition of French realist painter "Courbet," a design exhibition, and a French train exhibition, attracting tens of thousands of viewers. Standing in long queues to visit the special exhibition at the Grand Palais has become a ritual. Friends often ask me what exhibitions I have visited recently. I often reply, "The number of exhibitions I have visited in Paris in one month surpasses those you have visited in Taiwan in a year." Visiting exhibitions has become a ritual of my life living in the art capital, Paris. It seems that in winter, the number of visitors to all the major and minor museums and art galleries in Paris is busier than in summer. This shows that although seasons change, indoor arts and cultural activities in winter are more prosperous and active than in summer (in fact, Parisian arts and culture are equally lively, but museums and art galleries are just warmer during the cold winter).