Winter Wonderland

We couldn't get enough of the snow so off we went yesterday on a lazy Sunday morning in search of more snow in the Harz Mountains which is an hour away from Hannover. This place is well known for winter sports in this part of Germany although the mountain ranges are not as high as the German Alps. The amount of snow that greeted us was something we could not have imagined before. Setinggi berdiri and tinggi lagi dari kereta. We were looking for a place where we could do some sleighing and for Imran to snowboard as skiing is something which we can only dream off for now. The first stop, Harz Nationalpark did not meet our expectations as although it provided us with picturesque scenary, it was more for cross-country skiers.

Next stop is Sonnenberg which is quite a busy place with 2 ski-lifts and people engaging in skiiing and snow-boarding activities. But still no special place for people who wants to slide down a hill with their sleighs. Imran nak rent snowboard pun Mamat tempat sewa tu macam layan tak layan, mentang2x la satu bas tourist turun at that time and that place is quite commercial. So since perut dah berkeroncong and our bladders were nearly bursting we entered the cafe there. Not much choice of food that we can take so ended up with fries, soup, Pasta Napoli and baked potato. Syirah's soup looked like savoury bubur gandum which wasn't what she expected so dengan pujuk rayu she switched with Mama's baked potato. Bladder empty and tummy filled, we made our move.

Backtracking to the road where we came from, we found this lovely place on top of a hill amidst houses with snow right up their roof. We have learnt that the best places are normally those yang tak commercial which are usually the village's best kept secrets yang worthwhile pergi cari masuk celah kampung mana entah and the best thing is it's FOC. The house owners nearby had to tarah the snow to create a pathway to their door steps and for their cars to be parked. Imagine depa bukak tingkap and they're greeted by this wall of snow, kinda like a house within an open-topped igloo...so cool ehh....

Along the small narrow street atop the hill sits the best place for us to sleigh down and had Imran been able to rent a snowboard he would have had great fun as the slope down was not very steep. Semua orang macam dah penat and malas nak turun dari kereta but I was adamant that we get down. Rugi la dah datang and then dok dalam kereta jer. Dengan bersemangat I took the snow bob out from the car boot, konon nak be the first to slide down, tapi bila sampai kat starting point tu macam kecut perut la pulak so suruh Abah and Imran go first. When my turn came, I had the best time of my life whooshing down the slope. Turun memang best, nak menapak naik punya la seksa, tecungap-cungap. Gerak Hakeem and Syirah as it was too good to be missed. Syirah yang mula tak nak pun then wanted to go for more.

Masa ni la ada satu member-of-the family (not naming that person but you know who you are...hee..hee..hee...kita panggil MOF la senang kira. Jaja, make a wild guess!) yang dah tak tahan nak wee-wee so much so that dia sanggup think of peeing somewhere in the snow and suruh Mama hadang dia, boleh? Hishhhhh...ada ke? Nasib baik Abah saw a mobile toilet along the road. With great relief MOF berjalan lenggang kangkung with a bottle of water to wash after. Mama saw that MOF waited for so long kat luar toilet tu and was wondering apasal la lama sangat. Abah said that orang yang masuk sebelum tu amat la besar orangnya and we dread to think kalau dia "melabur" kat dalam cubicle yang teramat la sempit tu. Later MOF came back to the car dengan muka yang kelat....Yes, Mamat tu "melabur" big time and the toilet tak der flush so the poo was all there to be seen and tak der tissue and tak der air and baunya teramat la SUPER PONG! Tu la, orang suruh wee-wee kat cafe tak nak, eksyen strong bladder control konon. Shian dia.....we then got thinking, kalau toilet tu tak der tissue, Mamat tu lap pakai aper??? ieuuuuuuuuuuuuwwwwww.....

Harz, Germany

Too much of a good thing...

Let it snow...let it snow...let it snow.....I personally like it. There's something magical about it. Been snowing since before Christmas so that makes it to almost 2 months of record breaking snow fall since the last 30 years in Germany. Berlawan-lawan countries with 4 seasons in terms of the worst snow fall. UK katanya since the last 70 years, parts of US some 90 years? Mula-mula turun di Hannover dulu everybody was overjoyed even the Germans yang anak cucu depa memang tak merasa snow in such big quantity in town. Sleigh tu sampai habih kat kedai, queing list nak order punya panjang.

Mula-mula turun cantik.....everything is white and pure. After a few days, mula la the ugly side of it appears...yang kat tengah and tepi jalan tu turns into blackish icy muck (Slurpy 7-eleven cola flavour?) especially if not cleared by the Majlis Bandaran which happened in Hannover hari tu. Sebabnya the people yang in-charged of the cleaning is under the purview of the party yang menang election hari tu and this party katanya is golongan pencinta alam and to put salt on the road is an act yang sungguh tak environmentally friendly. So they let the snow melambak kat jalan to a certain extent yg dah agak-agak membahayakan baru la nak clear. Yang kat pavement tu bila dah bercampur dengan dogs' poo and pee turned especially yucky.

Since it has been snowing for sometime and temperature most of the time still below freezing point, the old snow has turned into ice and to walk in this condition is very dangerous. Kinda like going through obstacle course for my daily walk to the cafe behind my office for lunch so much that we got one colleague to drive there although the walk is a short one. Berapa kali dah nak tergolek. The kids' school principal had a bad fall resulting in a punctured lung. Same case with another teacher who is still warded as we speak. As such, the hospitals registered record increase in people admitted with related cases.

Now that we have so much of it, nobody ambik pot pun and kedengaran komen-komen bila la pulak snow ni nak berenti. We've been encouraged to feed the ducks sebab the lakes have been frozen for a long time, takut kebulur itik-itik tu. Kalau depa suruh tangkap bawak balik rumah bela best jugak boleh buat roast duck lagi. Garam nak tabur kat jalan pun dah habis coz they never expected it to be this bad. This is the case of too much of a good thing....bak kata orang Perak...sampai dah muntah monggek....nak buat ais kacang or cendoi takut sakit perut although geram jer nengok salji putih gebu tu all around the area.

As I type this entry, snow is still falling non-stop outside. Looks like niat nak skating on the lake terpaksa tunda lagi coz the snow on top of the frozen lake creates a warm effect underneath and will halt the freezing process and the much needed thickness of ice enough for the lake to be declared safe for skating activities. Last year the lake in Hamburg not only had people skating and walking on it but also kiosks selling coffee and hotdogs! For now, my brandnew skates will dok diam-diam dalam kotak dulu noo....terkenang skating with my A-Level buddies kat Queensway ice skating rink as well as ice skating in Newcastle just before balik Malaysia for good (Elry- I know you're reading this, ingat tak?). Those were the days....