In Amsterdam these days it's, as they say in the Netherlands, echt koud.  I could pretend like there's a really profound cultural insight in the translation of that phrase, but there's not.  What I mean (and what those Dutch words mean) is simply that it's real cold.  And I mean that as literally as possible.

The snowpack over the city of Amsterdam remains intact, two full weeks into the New Year.  People are saying it's been over 20 years since their last memory of such cold and snow.  This morning, there was a solid layer of (not very thick) ice all the way across the Amstel River -- which I have never seen.  They've shut off the water flow to the canals in the Jordaan (one of the oldest, most scenic and sentimentally-valued areas in Amsterdam) -- in order to let the water stagnate and allow a crust of ice to begin to form on top of these canals in the innermost section of the city.  There have been scattered reports of people venturing out on the ice, and every report is widely and wildly circulated in this country where ice-skating is an integral part of the seasonal culture -- even though it rarely gets cold enough, anymore, for "natural skating" (as opposed to "artifical skating" on man-made rinks, which is something very different in Dutch culture and language).  However, the officials continue to strongly advise against skating on the canals of Amsterdam's city center (though there are plenty of opportunities for skating on the ponds and more outlying waterways -- like we had last year).  For now, everyone is kind of watching and waiting.  We're all holding our breath in anticipation.

It gives us something to do while we shiver to death in the absurdly cold temperatures. :-)

Seriously, though, I much prefer the true winter experience in Amsterdam -- as opposed to the cool, dark, gray, rainy seasons that I've experienced in previous Januaries.  It is beautiful and exciting.  I especially hope that I might get to witness the legendary elfstedentocht (eleven cities tour) -- which is absolutely legendary in Dutch culture.  From everything that I've heard, it's bigger than the Olympics -- like, Dutch ice skaters might have a very difficult time deciding between Vancouver or Friesland, if the elfstedentocht were to happen in the second half of February.  And yet, while they've been holding them for the last 100 years or so, the conditions have only allowed it to occur 15 times.  Ever.  The last one was in 1997.  So it would be a pretty big deal if we could get to see one of those this year...

On certain levels, I'm already wishing for spring -- especially when it comes to bicycling.  The country has literally run out of road salt -- and so some of the side streets are perhaps 4 or 5 centimeters of firmly packed snow-ice.  And it's so cold getting from place to place; even with excellent gloves my fingers are tingling by the end of a 15 minute bike ride.  But when I think about skating on the Keizersgracht and watching an elfstedentocht for once -- well, I'm quite content to wait for spring.