Reeuwijkse Plassen and more ice-skating, winter 2012 /Schaatsen in Reeuwijk, Nederland 2012

 
Yesterday the weather service in the Netherlands informed us that the first 10 days of February 2012 have been the coldest since... 95 years!!! Wowww.....

 

Next to Gouda (the famous cheese city) one may find the so called lake area Reeuwijkse Plassen, which presents 13 lakes connected with small or bigger canals. As you can imagine this becomes one really huge natural ice-skating rink when it freezes! What I have done 2 years ago and was happy to repeat this year is arriving at the harbour cafe "Het Wappen van Reeuwijk", putting on the skates and slide on the frozen lake just in front of it...

 

Some of the local houses on the lake were selling warm drinks and warm soup to the skaters (above advertisement was written with red on snow).

 

One could also skate on the Brevevaart, the canals in front of the cafe, which were nicely cleaned with machine. For the kids there were several attraction such as ice-sleight, with metal picks. Sometimes a "Plassentocht" (a tour of all lakes by skates) is organised. This year only the lake in front of "Het Wappen van Reeuwijk" was cleaned  and ready for safe ice-skating. A great thing to do once one get too cold is to have  a warm chocolate, tea or glühwein in the very cozy cafe!