I Come From the Land of the Ice & Snow

I thought that song was hilarious in college, thanks in large part to my Norwegian heritage. Now, however, I think the song is all too true. I feel silly saying this, but I cannot remember a German winter in Heidelberg where it has snowed in November. This is our 4th winter here, so I do have some room for comparisons. The day after Thanksgiving, November 26th, we woke up to snow-covered hilltops/mountains by our house.

Note: I have finally started referring to them as mountains instead of hills. They are much bigger than the hills in the Texas Hill Country but they are of course much smaller than the Alps, so I was conflicted for the longest time. After seeing them snow-covered this past week, I’ve decided I can call them mountains. They look tall enough.

Some flurries had occurred the previous few days, but nothing stuck until Friday. It was strangely magical to witness the hills mountains (sorry, habit) covered in snow while the valley was still absent of snow. John and I had to take a drive to fully experience Winter 2010’s first snowfall, so natürliche, we drove up to the Königstuhl.

Getting ready to head up there.

About halfway up...starting to see some snow

A turn or two later up the mountain, and look at what we were passing through!

We weren't dressed for the weather, and luckily, John didn't throw this snowball at me 🙂

I loved the face on this car. It made my day!

Looking out over Heidelberg and the surrounding area. You can see how most of the area in the actual valley is still green, while everything higher up is white.

It looked like a small storm was heading in, so we didn't stay much longer.

But we did make time for one photo of us. Too bad the background was completely blown out.

Back at home, the little storm rolled through, and we wound up with the slightest of dustings that promptly melted.

We managed to get through the weekend without any other accumulating snow, but once Monday hit, that all changed. It snowed ALL day. I think it started around 8, just before John took Béni for his morning walk, and it didn’t stop until 8 or 9 that night. We wound up with about 3 inches of snow. It was really pretty and Béni loved running around in it. He’s a winter dog at heart, and I know he’ll have a hard time adjusting to the Texas heat. He started panting when it’s in the low 70s here. Poor baby!

The downside to snow is that it can often turn to ice if the streets and sidewalks aren’t properly cleared. Our sidewalk looks great, but our street is a disaster zone. For the past two days, I have been tiptoeing across it as I go to and from work. I have slid every time, but luckily, I was walking so slow and carefully each time that they were only small slides. I’m all too aware of how off my balance is these days, and I am doing my best to avoid a fall.

Today, it snowed again, but I’d say we’ve only gotten about 0.75″ since midnight, so it’s not much to speak of. I apologize that I only have one photo of what it looks like down here since the snow has fallen in the city, but one is better than none, so here it is:

The view from our place on Tuesday morning.

Stay warm, everyone!