Winter Wonder Land

Holland is in the grip of winter. After a mild December and January with so much rain and wind, it finally began to freeze at the end of January with temperatures plummeting to as low as -15°C (5°F) at night and - 3°C (26°F) during the day. These freezing conditions will  continue for the rest of this week and maybe even longer.
Holland is a country where ice skating is a national obsession. There are so many canals, ponds, lakes etc., that after some good night freezes the Dutch are eager to ice skate. It's a lot of fun for kids as there is always a ditch or canal near their house where they can (learn to) ice skate. Not to forget the long distance "tochten" tours where you can skate through the picturesque Dutch landscape.

Owen learning how to iceskate. 

 Jasmina having fun.

Ryan has no ice skates yet so being pulled is fun too.

While this freezing period keeps on they are speculating about a possible Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Tour). It's a tour/race about 200 kilometers (124 miles) which passes through or near eleven cities in the province of Friesland. The last one was held in 1997. Learn more about the Elfstedentocht here. To get an idea watch this video.

Last Friday it started snowing and we now have a white winter wonderland. Saturday it was absolutely a gorgeous day to go out for a walk. The sun was shining bright and the sky was blue. We walked for about two hours. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 If you look good, you can see the rabbits hopping in the snow.

One Foggy Frosty Morning Walk

Het zag wit van de vorst en het was behoorlijk mistig  vanochtend. Manlief was vrij vandaag  (hij werkt nl. elk weekend) en we hadden afgelopen week al plannen gemaakt om deze dag te gaan wandelen. Ondanks de kou zijn we toch gegaan. We hebben 10 km gelopen in de Lopikerwaard. Het was dichte mist maar dat was opgetrokken toen we weer thuis kwamen.

It was very foggy and frosty this morning. Hubby was off today (he usualy works Saturday and Sunday's) and we had made plans already to walk this day. Even though it was freezing we decided to go for it. We did a 10 km walk in the Lopikerwaard. We left in heavy fog but  by the time we got home it had cleared up.