The Netherlands in the Snow

8thDecember 2012

On Monday it came.

The first flurry of snow.

Over the weekend a friend of mine came over to stay from home. We had a lovely weekend exploring the city, visiting shops, bars and the Speklok museum (a museum for instruments which play themselves). But, she was a little worried about getting stuck in the Netherlands as she had to be back in the U.K. for lectures at university the following week. She said that she 'had a feeling' that something might happen to stop he being able to get back.

On Sunday evening we met with a couple of friends of mine took a night time tour of the city. The tour is called the 'Trajectum Lumen' and takes around an hour (depending on how many pub stops you take on the way). The night was very cold but, we still enjoyed the treasure hunt style tour. The concept of 'Trajectum Lumen' is that there are lots of light related installations around the city which can be discovered under the cover of night. There are lots of little orange arrows on the floor around the city which direct you down the right paths. Then at intervals there are also eyes in blue lights (also on the ground) which indicate that you should look around for the next installation. My favourite display has to be the one I mentioned earlier in a different entry; the glowing and musical trees in the Janskerkhof square beside the church. As you walk through the trees some twinkly music is triggered and there are spotlight type lights which glow down from the branches of the trees. Another favourite of mine was the lights placed underneath the canal on the Niewgracht which looked like magical schools of fish swimming down stream. (If you want to do the tour you can pick up a map from the 'Gemeente Utrecht' offices on the Neude square). We triumphantly finished the tour and suddenly realised how very cold we all were. So we said our good byes and went our separate ways. My friend and I arrived home, had a well deserved cup of tea and then went straight to bed!

So the following morning, I woke up fairly early to be able to get to my lecture. When I looked out of my window, it was snowing! It looked beautiful. The ground was about 3 inches deep with snow. The trees trunks had white shadowing on one side from where the snow had been blown onto. The no-longer-leafy branches reached out to the sky which was as white as the snow which balance on them. It really looked like everything was connected to everything else with white paint.

I quickly logged onto my computer to see if my lecture had been cancelled but there were no messages. So of course I leapt at the opportunity to try out a very new and exclusive experience – cycling in the snow! My house mate and I left together for the university. I was very glad that he was with me just in case any thing went wrong but nothing did. In fact, I really enjoyed the whole experience. I found that the trick was just to keep moving and to stick to already trodden paths. By the time I reached the university, I looked like a snowman as all the snow had collected on my clothes. I went to class and found the nearest radiator to put my gloves hat and scarf on to dry out.

So anyway, my friend managed to get back to the U.K. with out any hiccups just showing that the Netherlands is far better at dealing with snow than England!

On Friday, the snow came again with a vengeance. It was too snowy for me to leave the house in the morning. As I was looking out of my window, it was possible to see the snow being pulled upwards at points when it got really windy. In the afternoon the weather eased off a little and I was able to cycle to university to do some studying in the library.

In the evening, a friend of mine had invited a group of us over for dinner. We all were asked to bring something along to eat or drink. It was a lovely thing to do on such a wintry day. There were about 10 of us in her bed sit style room tasting food from all around the world and having a giggle. There was pasta, sushi, and pancakes to eat for the main and then all sorts of Dutch and Polish sweet foods for dessert. I took some mulled wine as it seemed appropriate for such a chilly day and such warm company. Absolutely marvellous :)

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