It's official

Yes, the KNMI (the Dutch equivilent of the B of M) have declared xmas 2009 officially "white" !! As far as I can work out, this means that at de Bilt (a small city in the middle of the country near Utrecht, and the home of the KNMI) on both xmas day and boxing day there must be a sufficient layer of snow - and this year there was ! 9cm on xmas day and a whopping 4cm on boxing day :-) According to the records the last offical white xmas was back in 1981.

Here at home in Nijmegen it was actually snowing on xmas day (only in the morning), but by yesterday most of the snow had turned to ice; and meant our street, where the salt truck has not made a visit, is now one big skating rink! Over the past few days both Jeroen and I have fallen with our bikes due to the slippery ice-covered roads and I now have perfect purple bruises on both knee caps to show for it. The photo you see here was taken from our living room window a few days ago, and you can see just how much snow we had. Not sure if my poor little Japanese black pine bonsai (outside on the balcony) will survive !

The temperatures during the day are now up to a relatively balmy 5-6C, and overnight are not below zero so the rest of the ice/snow will probably all be gone again by tomorrow, and we will just be left with huge puddles of water everywhere. There is a forecast of colder weather and more snow to come later in the week - just in time to drive to Keulen (Cologne) for new year's eve!

Alli xxx

It's starting to feel alot like ...

... xmas :-)

We drove ALL the way to Münster (Germany) on Saturday afternoon for the xmas market. And it turned out to be a horrible and long drive because there was a freeway closed for maintenance :-( BUT the xmas market itself was lovely :-) The historical centre of Münster is picture perfect, and once darkness hit all the buildings were lit up with pretty fairy lights. That, and all the stalls selling bratwurst and gluhwein, made for a very special xmas (for me at least !!) atmosphere.

AND as you can see here in the photo we have our own xmas decorations now in the house :-) It is all very "gezellig" (no good english translation for this word!), and the temperatures outside are becoming more "normal" for this time of the year. Today we had a maximum of 0c and last night it was down to a minimum of about -4C brrrrrrr. The nice new woolly winter hat I found at the xmas market came in handy this morning cycling to work!

Oh, and we managed to find yet another snowdome for our collection ;-) This time of Münster city itself.

Alli xxx

Yes, I'm procrastinating !

We have been back home just over two weeks already now (!!) so it is high time I send out an update of our time in Hong Kong and Oz. Two weeks back in the chilly, damp and grey that is NL at this time of the year. Kinda hard to adjust to after the unseasonal heat we had in Australia, and the light that is so bright you have to squint, and the skies that are so blue it almost hurts. Back to hardly any light at all and insipid, watery grey skies. Two weeks - more than long enough for both jet lag AND suntans to fade away.

But enough complaining!!! It is nice to sleep in our own cosy bed again and we have (had!) Sinterklaas with my colleagues, the xmas markets in Munster, xmas dinner with Jeroen's clients, AND New Year's Eve in Cologne (Koln/Keulen) to look forward to :-)

Our 4 days in Hong Kong were, in a word, awesome ! What a fabulous city (if you like cities that is, and we definately do). It is the perfect combination between an amazing supersized Manhattan-like skyline, a bustling harbour, great (and cheap) Asian food, warm weather, an efficient (and cheap) public transport system, and plenty to see & do. I'm pretty sure that we managed to tick off just about everything on the top 10 list.

We managed to see/do: the giant seated buddha on Lantau Island (accessible only by the longest cable car ride I have ever been on); Victoria Peak (accessible only by an incredibly steep tram ride - Jeroen made this trip on his own while I stayed behind at the hotel); the evening laser light show, which apparently holds the Guiness record for the world's largest permanent sound & light show; a Star Ferry ride; dim sum :-); Temple Street night markets, where a little old Chinese man, VERY skilled with a VERY sharp knife custom made a leather belt each while we waited; and even managed to get to a beach on one of the outlying islands (Chung Chau). All in all, one of those great all-in-one destinations, and the perfect way to break up that horror flight.

Melbourne and Bright also lived up to expectation. It was of course lovely to see my family again; and we spent many a relaxed hour in the back garden at my Mum's house with a good book or sudoko puzzle in hand :-) Minty (my Mum's dog) also managed to once again provide hours of entertainment. The annual hot rod show was back in town, also providing a weekend's entertainment; and the traditional BBQ at my Dad's place was also a nice opportunity to catch up with my brother :-) And with every day somewhere between 30-35C it was a great chance to soak up that last bit of sunshine before coming back home to at least 3 months of winter.

Whilst in Melbourne we were lovingly looked after by Veronica & Mark out in Hampton East, and we are both looking forward to returning the favour when they make it to the northern hemisphere :-) Get your bowling shoes ready guys !!

Sadly I have not been able to upload any photos here yet - bloody Blogger is just not cooperating at the moment! Will try again later, promise.

Alli xxx