We stepped out of the airport into the dark- and almost froze to death! It was literally a 50 degree Celsius difference between the 38 degree day in Penang to the -12 degree morning in Amsterdam- and that's not even accounting for the windchill which brought the temperature down to -19. Brrrrr....
After talking to some of the locals, it turns out that they are cold too, and that this is one of the coldest winters they've had in some years. Everything is covered in snow which is quite beautiful and apparently does not happen too often. There is even a chance that Elfstedentocht might happen this year- the 'Eleven Cities Tour' ice skating event, a 200km track which can only be skated on completely when there are enough consecutive sub-zero days for the canals, lakes and rivers to freeze over to a safe depth. This sort of weather is apparently quite rare these days, with the last tour having happened in 1997, and the one before that 1986, so we certainly picked a great time to leave our warm, sunny home country!
We went for a walk around our local area, everything is just stunning. Beautiful old buildings, leafless trees and snow capped light posts line the frozen-over canals, every angle seems like it could be a photograph on the front of a travel magazine. I'm freezing to death, but can't keep the grin off my face- I can't believe we actually live here!
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