Ice, Ice baby!

The Netherlands is crazy about ice! And after 12 years of luke-warm winters, anticipation was building as the cold weather set in over New Years and the local ponds and ditches began to freeze. It all came together one spectacular weekend in mid January when the temperature stayed well below zero and the days were filled with chalky blue skys. It was three days of heaven - now just a distant memory melted away by the typical late January drizzle.

But what an experience! Here are of few of the memories:

It started out with Sage's little pond in Caprera. She couldn't figure out how all those people got out onto the water.

Then, on the first night of the big freeze, we encountered a huge bon-fire and party at the local mill park. It was packed with skaters.

By the next day the ice on the large canals was thick enough - it was party time! This is the Ringvaart, a large canal (63 KM) that drains the polder now used for Schipol airport.

The "sidewalk" cafes moved onto the ice so that the skaters could stop and get cocoa or coffee. The National Train Service (NS) had to slow down the trains on several routes because so many skaters were crossing the tracks because the canal was not frozen under a train bridge. In some places, carpets were laid across roads for the same reason...so the skaters could cross the street without damaging their skates as they got to the next frozen section.

Everyone stretched out the skating until the last brilliant sunset...

...even as the ice was melting and the ducks were starting to reclaime their turf.

By the way, we never even go close to cold enough for the elfstedentocht...they were even still running icebreakers on the huge canals up north. Everyone is hoping for a cold February...

Veluwe

We normally go to Spain over New Years for a short winter holiday, but this year we decided stay a bit closer to home and visit the largest national park in The Netherlads - The Hoge Veluwe. The idea was to spend two days of vigorous hiking and then a day of complete relaxation at one of the largest sauna's in the country. We're sooo glad we decided to go this route this year. Here are a few pictures from the holiday.


These windswept grasslands could have been in Africa.


The park is famous for it's wildlife and we saw a lot of wild boar and red stag. But I have to admit that it felt a bit creepy to cross these game gates....kind of like Jurasic Park.


Another famous feature of the park is the white bicycles , available to just jump on and off at a whim.

With hundreds of kilometers of trails in the area, why wouldn't you take advantage of them to reach some of the remotest corners of the park?

It was a bit chilly, but having the handwarmers inside our gloves kept us nice and toasty.


"And that's the truth. Plphhhb!"

The old hunting lodge with frozen pond. (wait till you see the next blog entry with all the skating in the rest of the country).

It snowed on our last day in the park, so we began with one last hike through the white stuff. It was beautiful.

But more importantly, the coating of snow also made it perfect for spending the last day of this little excursion in nothing more than a bathrobe and slippers (or not) at The Zwaluwhoeve Wellness Resort. This place is a massive complex of saunas, steambaths, restaraunts, bars, relaxation rooms, fireplaces, ice-caves, gardens, hottubs, and swimming pools (both hot and cold). We go to our local sauna's almost every month, but after our few days of hiking and biking, we decided to do it up right and even signed up for a "Dance Warmup" session and a hot stone massage. Being a rythmically challenged white guy, the best part of the Dance Warmup for me was watching the instructor, but the hot stone massage was fantastic. The heat from the stone sears into your muscles and seems to hold there, slowly rippling out across your body, iliciting a slight groan of both pleasure and pain . Very cool.

This is our first all-day sauna excursion, but it most certainly won't be our last. This is high on the "Dan and Beth" recommendation list for a day of pampering.

Happy New Year!!!!

From the war zone....

With the economic turmoil around the globe this year, there seemed to be fewer fireworks on the streets in Haarlem. But the display - put on purely by individuals (some of whom drove down to Belgium for the illegal cluster displays), is still pretty impressive and lasted for almost 45 minutes.

Happy, Safe, and Prosperous New Year!!!