a real winter

this month has been quite the opposite of last year’s super mild, almost spring weather. no, it’s even colder and snowier than the first winter we lived here in czechland (2013). this winter is frigid, the kind with a constant layer of snow and ice on the ground. (wasn’t it a great time to get a dog and have to take him outside all the time?)

we’ve been experiencing regular temperatures of between -8°C and -14°C, with one today about a week and a half ago even getting as cold as -17°C (1°F!). i can say, undoubtedly, that these are the coldest temperatures i have ever been in in my life. in washington, our winters look like: it snows once or twice a year and it melts completely within the following days. it’s been an interesting experience to live in this sort of climate this time around. it’s kind of fun to get cozy with a book, a blanket, and a cuppa on the weekends and who doesn’t love a pretty, soft snowfall?

apparently for the past four winters, locals have been pretty bummed about the warm temperatures (which were basically the same as a washington winter) but this year everyone’s super happy, heading to the ski slopes in lipno, šumava, and the resorts near the border in austria. i’m not so much for snow sports, but i do enjoy ice-skating, even though the last time  i did it was in my teenage years! 

alex promised me he would go ice-skating with me at some point this winter. i thought the perfect opportunity would be going on the little ice rink in the square last month during the christmas markets, but i decided it was too much of a rinky-dink dinky-rink to have any real fun on.

after several weeks of frozen temps and assurance that every pond in south bohemia (the fishing / pond capital of the country) had safely frozen over, it was time to achieve my life-long dream: ice-skating on a frozen pond! i ain’t never even seen a frozen pond in my life before moving here, so even standing on one is super exciting… but the thrill of skating on it is wonderful! finally, i did right by my minnesotan heritage. 

it looks like temps will be warming a bit in the next week or so, but i think i’m a new ice-skating convert… only on ponds. winter, you set the bar high this year! 

hope you’ve all been enjoying this season so far. ready for february? xx

ps, you might like preparing for a central eurpean winter or last year’s winter unplugged.

this post is a part of wanderful wednesday.