Ice

A cold snap has walloped Europe from the North Sea to the Mediterranean over the past two weeks. Hundreds of people have died from the cold in Central Europe, enough that the homeless shelters in Poland decided to temporarily abandon their policy of not allowing alcohol in the shelters (apparently many homeless alcoholics were choosing to die from exposure to the elements rather than give up their vodka). Areas of the continent that rarely freeze or see snow have been unprepared for the weather, and it's been causing some problems.

Beyond delaying some trains, I'm not aware of the cold and the small amount of snow we've had doing much damage in the Netherlands. In fact, the cold produced a buzz of excitement across the country at the prospect of the Elfstedentocht, a 200km ice skating race on rivers around 11 small towns in the Dutch countryside. The freeze has not been deep enough for the Elfstedentocht since 1997, and large parts of the news have been redirected from covering the European debt crisis to examining the thickness of ice in the countryside.

Sadly, the ice never reached critical thickness, and, with temperatures approaching the normal range (highs in the low 40's) next week, it looks like another year will pass with no Elfstedentocht. But some of the Amsterdam canals, which are not as deep or thick as the rivers in the countryside, have frozen sufficiently for skating and walking. Today was sunny, but perhaps the coldest day in Amsterdam yet (high about 26 degrees), and families and tourists hit the canals.

The sight of so many people walking and skating on what is normally deep wide waters in the middle of the city was surreal.


Apparently bikes are sometimes thrown in the canals by drunk people at night. Not sure if people threw these out of habit, of if they were placed here strategically.


Not all of the canals were sufficiently frozen for walking. Some simply had large chunks of ice floating on the surface. This is the Kaisersgracht.



I climbed down into the canals and saw the apartments, cafes, and churches from four feet lower than normal.











Families had open fires for warmth and large containers of coffee and hot chocolate. They walked their dogs on the snow and ice, and they pulled their children on sleds and pushed them in strollers. Many walked around with cameras and camcorders, knowing that this was something that doesn't happen very often.