All this week I have been receiving text messages from my Dad proudly talking about the heat wave in Finland. The temperature hovers around 25-27C in the area where my parents live. I also remember him telling me that less than one month ago the lake where our summer house is located was still frozen! Today Lapland –usually the coolest region of Finland– has become the hottest region in the entire Europe. Temperature superior to 30C certainly is rare over there. Reindeer experts are expressing their worries in Finnish newspapers: the poor reindeer are not adjusting very well to the weather!

Meanwhile in Paris the weather shows resemblance to the end-of-May weather in India; the beginning of monsoon. It has rained so much that the Seine is flooding. The stairs that lead to nice walks by the Seine now lead to nowhere. The photo below shows you what the Eastern tip of the Île Saint-Louis looked like yesterday. The colors are very grey but the vegetation is getting thicker and thicker. Will we soon have monkeys jumping around in the jungle?