In mid-February 2021, Dutch elementary schools reopened. But, the day they were scheduled to reopen, we had the biggest storm in half a century. Temperatures plummeted to 17°F / -8°C at night. And we got 5 inches/ 13 cm of snow over three days. Our family and friends in Wisconsin and Minnesota are surely not impressed, but there’s a bit more to it. First of all, Dutch homes are not insulated very well, by in large – at least not by US standards. That makes a big difference for sure. Secondly, the Netherlands is not well equipped to handle snow. The plows really do very little and honestly they cannot get too aggressive with any side streets because that would destroy the cobblestone, which is everywhere. When I saw how they salt the roads here, it looked to me like a sprinkling of table salt. Third, when we went to shovel, there is really nowhere to put the snow. Fourth, it doesn’t take a lot of snow (and very high winds) to shut down pubic transportation and that’s indeed what happened. The trains were down for a couple of days, making it impossible for people to get to work. So all in all, we had 2 snow days, but because of the online learning we had been doing – we still worked from home instead. All the Dutch people were so excited about the storm, because it was cold enough for long enough to partially freeze over the canals. Everyone and their brother were out ice skating and usually not very far from open water. We also saw a lot of parents out pulling their kids in sleds – beautiful heavy wooden sleds. It was interesting. Here’s a video someone made of our town on the Sunday of the storm. It definitely made bike riding a challenge.
De Horsten 
De Horsten 
Our back garden 
De Horsten 
De Horsten 
Skating in Leiden. Open water 50 yards away! 
Skating in Leiden.
Basically it took about a week and a half for the weather to warm up and the snow to melt and on to February break. This was the 3rd week in February and we had it off, so we opted for a change of scenery. We are still in hard lockdown with the rules being only 1 person a day can visit a home and all non-essential stores are still closed and now a 9pm curfew. Only elementary schools in the country were opened, but high schools (7-12) were gearing up for various hybrid scenarios to open on March 1st. Anyway, we decided to check out Groningen for a few days. Groningen is in the north east corner of the country. The highlights included 60°F/ 15.5°C, visiting Hoorn, driving over the Afslutidijk (the causeway between over the northern tip of the Ijsselemeer), a trip to Bourtange (fortified village) 5-minutes from Germany; a visit to the city of Pieterburen; a ride over the Blauwe Loper (longest cycling bridge in Europe) – opened Feb. 1, 2021(800m); exploring Groningen and it’s cool architecture; checking out Dokkum, another fortified town; and Leeuwarden on the way home.
Hoorn:
Groningen:
Afsluitdijk:
Bourtagne:
Pieterburen:
The Blauwe Loper:
Leeuwarden:
The Netherlands is truly a beautiful country.
Andreasens Abroad 