Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Skating on Keizersgracht in the center of Amsterdam, 5 Feb 2012


This was a dream of mine that I thought "global warming" had squelched: the Amsterdam canals are freezing over in the Centrum. After years here, it's finally happened!

The whole country is going nuts over the possibility of Elfstedenocht, an ice-skating event that takes place through 11  Friesland cities, but only if the Dutch weather permits: the ice must be 15 cm thick along the whole natural route.

You have to live here to appreciate the excitement this generates. The media is already in a frenzy nightly; bets are being laid as to whether or not it will take place. The official announcement comes from The Queen. The entire nation is holding it's breath. I kid you not.


3 comments:

  1. This is the first year I have seen people on the frozen canals in Amsterdam. It's great. I've even seen people with a whole table seat out having a party on the ice.

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  2. OMG Stu for real??? I MUST get a picture of something like that. The excitement in town is palpable. Nice to have this, even though Elfstedentocht looks like a no-go. I hear it's going to warm up, so I plan to take the ole camera out tomorrow for some more snapping. Ought to be plenty of folks out on Sunday. Thanks for stopping by the blog!

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  3. I love seeing all of these photos of the frozen canals, they are so charming!

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