The winteriest winter to ever winter

I know, spring is in full force and then I decide to look back on the freezing winter we had. I was afraid to make this post for awhile for fear of jinxing things and having the weather turn on us. I've seen it snow here in late April. It can happen. But considering it's meant to be sunny for the foreseeable future, and up to around 20 degrees during the weekend, I think we are safe (knock on wood).

So yeah, it was officially the coldest winter in 14 years with a grand average of just 1.1 degrees. We also got snow. A lot of snow. Perhaps not so much depth, at least where I live, but once we got it, it hung around awhile. All-in-all I felt like I was trying out being an East Coaster: getting used to all of the bundling up that was necessary to go outside, wearing warm, grippy winter shoes to work and then changing into sneakers there, walking hunched over and with a slight shuffle. I didn't mind it, though I know some people absolutely wilted every time it snowed again. But I enjoyed the true winteriness of it, the dramas it caused, and the pretty snow and ice. A recap of some of the days I captured in photos:

The main, big snow, December 20th.







Icy canals in central Leiden, January 3rd



3 days later, January 6th, the sidewalk coated in ice and old snow



A ton of snow fell in Amsterdam on January 6th, people left work early, and then I got home to find not even a tiny bit of snow in Leiden. This photo was taken from my office on January 13th; it showed no sign of melting, it just got more icy each day.



A late-night walk in the snow, January 24th



Waking up to... snow, January 30th



Frozen over pond, February 14, finally the last day it snowed