COLD AND HOT!

Here we are another year, and life is just passing us by! Happy New Year!

We managed a 35degree Celsius temperature change on our arrival home on Saturday night. They say, ( and I suppose you've heard this one before) that Europe is experiencing the coldest winter in 10 years. I actually believe them this time. As we drove through Belgium on Friday, we saw the most beautiful snow capped trees and just knew it was colder than the week before that when we left Belgium for Austria.

There is so much to tell when you've come back from holiday. I cannot sum up the entire holiday, but I suppose I can give you the highlights in date order.

1. 19 Dec - 28 Dec Rovaniemi and Helsinki, Finland

2. 29 Dec - 1 Jan Brugge, West Flanders , Belgium

3. 2 Jan - 8 Jan Salzburg and Tirol, Austria

4. 8 Jan - 9 Jan Traben- Trabach, Germany

Not too mention we hired a car in Belgium and drove for 9 hours through Germany on the Autobahn. Each and every city was beautiful, and each part of our holiday was different. The most beautiful part for me was to spend Christmas in the snow, and to have an Artic Circle experience. I loved Rovaniemi, ( The home of Santa Claus) and I loved each and every part of my day spent in this warm, friendly and delightful place. From the snow mobiling, to the husky dog farm, to the cooked salmon eaten under a warm teepee in the freezing temperatures, right down to the reindeers. You cannot imagine, coming from South Africa, that this is really what Christmas is all about, you see it on pictures, you sing about it in the songs, but you never experience it. I know that besides not being with my family, it has been the Christmas I always dreamed of!