Vancouver - Seattle - Amsterdam - Cologne. Europe is still recovering from the kind of weather that we North Americans call 'Winter'. Is is not unheard of but quite rare that Germany is all covered under a white blanket. I remember when I was about ten years old, we had an actual white Christmas, but usually the region gets pretty much weather similar to the West Coast winter weather involving lots of rain.
Since Duesseldorf Int'l Airport was temporarily shut down our original flight got cancelled, but we were lucky enough and managed to catch a plane to Cologne. So, after 20 hours of combined air and road travel we arrived safe and sound in the small town we used to call home.
The town Leichlingen (try to pronounce this) has a steady population of around 27,000 and is located somewhat between Duesseldorf and Cologne along the river Wupper.
Despite two world wars the town core has been left relatively unscathed, and centuries old houses have been beautifully restored.
First mentioning of the town was in some church journal back in the year 973. The region usually has a micro climate similar to the Okanagan Valley, and is famous for its delicious strawberries and apples. In the past the area had been well known for their metal and textile production, but in nower days agriculture and orchards remain as the main industries.
I used to work for an IT service provider that had their regional headquarters in this mansion. My office was in the yellow building on the right. Fancy, eh?!?
The snow is somewhat limiting our excursions, but we hope to be able to visit all the family and friends that we haven't seen an a long while.
Lovely photos, Sonja. May I make a suggestion? Try over-exposing the snow shots by half or one stop. Snow always makes a camera underexpose (the camera tries to make it an averagely-bright scene, and a snow scene is much brighter than average) and this will counteract that.
ReplyDeleteThese shots are pretty much what we have in the UK at the moment, except that the buildings in Leichlingen are prettier.
Good luck in your travels; hopefully the snow goes away soon and you can enjoy some 'normal' weather!
ReplyDeleteSonja,
ReplyDeleteLeichlingen ist eine sehr schöne kleine Stadt!
I sometimes miss my times in Deutschland when I was with the US Army....if only I'd been bitten by the motorcycling bug back then....
Hope your travels and holidays work out better than planned. Here's to a better New Year for everyone...
dom
Redleg's Rides
Colorado Motorcycle Travel Examiner
Oh dear, home sweet home. Looking at the photos everything feels so familiar - and I have never been in Leichlingen.
ReplyDeleteMacht euch eine schöne Zeit, lasst euch vom Schnee nicht aufhalten und kommt gut zurück!
Sonja - It looks very picturesque there. I'm only sorry that it was such an ordeal for you to get there.
ReplyDeleteWishing you continued safe travels. I hope you have time to share more pics along the way :)
As an aside - Someday I hope to see the Cologne Cathedral with my own eyes.
Sitting at work on a 14C night one wonders what possesses people to go see snow in winter when summer is such a splendid time to travel. I have a friend from Victoria who is visiting her family in Florence also under snow. It must be a Canadian thing.
ReplyDeleteSeems like we are close together now...I'm holed up in freezing Wiesbaden!
ReplyDeleteYou were lucky to have arrived - the flights have been chaos the past week.
Happy Christmas
N
Beautiful indeed but not for me I'm afraid I am too used to warm weather, I would not be able to handle living in snowy climes, Lovely pics.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great little town. I really like the first shot with the unfrozen river and the wonderful buildings. Around here, everything "historic" is usually made of logs and not really that old...
ReplyDeleteWishing you safe travels and a wonderful new year!
Richard
@Richard: Thanks for the tip, I will certainly try that next time.
ReplyDelete@Ken: 'Normal'weather? So far no such luck.
@Charlie6: I am impressed, Dom, I didn't know you were fluent in German. So at one point when you did your duty in Germany, we must have gotten close without knowing it.
@Guido: I thought you might remember it... not too far from where you used to live, eh?!?
@Fuzzy: Thanks, I hope to have the chance to visit Cologne, but so far the weather has prevented any major trips or sight seeing for that matter.
@Conthscooter: I believe traveling this time of the year must have something to do with that thing called Christmas... believe me I would be the first to vote for re-scheduling this to May/June.
@Nikos: Small world, too bad that the weather doesn't play along. We could actually have met...
@The rider: Thanks for stopping by. Also, not my choice of weather, maybe I can convince my family to move to a warmer place ;-)
@RichardM: Thank you for your kind words. History is indeed a lot more present here, but believe me when I say that this town is young (only 1037 years old) compared to others in the area.
Hey, great blog and great photos. As a photographer, I must say your photos should be WAY bigger.
ReplyDeleteKeep the words and adventuring rolling.
SonjaM:
ReplyDeleteI love snow photos, as long as others are taking them. Glad you didn't get caught in one of those closed airports. With the worst snow for decades, you decide to go to the source.
happy holidays and enjoy your time with family
bob
Wet Coast Scootin
ps: on the ZS7 there is a snow mode, which overexposes for you, this way your snow will be white (not gray)
What a lovely little town. I won't try to pronounce or spell it! :)
ReplyDeleteVery pretty with all the snow, but that's the problem with snow. Pretty to look at, not so much fun to travel through. I hope you have a wonderful visit with family and friends, and a safe and uneventful return home.
@Christina Shook: Thanks so much for stopping by. My humble approach to photography is really just point and shoot...
ReplyDelete@bobskoot: Oh whey, of course there is a snow mode that I discovered of course AFTER I did the pics...
@bluekat: Yes, we really enjoyed our time in this little town. It was close to the big cities but distant enough to get some quiet time when needed.