I could smell spring in the air. It’s 10 degrees, sunny, blue skies and feels like 10-degrees. (In the Netherlands we have this gevoelstemperatuur, which literally translates to “feel temperature”. Depending on the wind, gevoelstemperatuur can be twice of thrice as cold as real temperature). Last week when the ‘beast from the east” passed by, it suddenly felt like -20 degrees in many parts of the country, particularly in Rotterdam where the hard, icy North Sea winds blows like a hurricane on stormy days.
But I am not complaining. Not really, because there was a lot of snow this year. You see, in this part of Europe, winter usually means rain and heavy storms, so when Netherlands become Narnia-land, we frolic in the snow like people from the tropics.
Every year the Dutch from the North of the country, in Friesland particularly, are wishing for a real winter so that they can hold their ice skating competition (Elfstedentocht). And every year, their hearts get broken because it hardly gets freezing cold here.
But this year was an exception. In early December the first snow storm came and blanketed the whole country in immaculate white powder. It lasted for only two days but nobody minded. There still wasn’t any Elfstedentoch but many canals froze, and people went crazy skating on natural ice especially in Amsterdam.
