After a wonderful couple of days of 0 and -1 degree weather (I'm trying to get used to this whole ridiculous celecius thing, so that's 30-32 degrees for us Yanks), it has warmed up again to a balmy 7 degrees (Y-factor: 45). And by balmy, I mean horrid. It's about 70% humidity most of the time, and it is currently sunny and raining. Yes, that's right. Things work differently across the pond, backwards, if you will. This is apparently predictable December weather here, mid 40s, sunny and raining. Don't you wish you were here?

At least we got out while it was cold - how often do you hear that? Walking around a traditional Christmas market drinking mulled beer (wonderfully tasty and that much better than mulled wine), eating bratkartoffeln (the seller was so excited that someone could say "kartoffeln" correctly, but was horribly dissapointed when I informed him that my German was somewhat lacking; more or less all I've got is "Konnen Sie die Fleishe offnen, bitte?") and looking at handicrafts when its in teh mid-40s kind of destroys some of my holiday cheer. But if its cold, and you can't feel your nose or your toes (even if it isn't snowing), then suddenly, Christmas spirit comes crashing in in such a way as to bring tears to my eyes. Seriously. I love festivities. And water in puddles on the street were actually FROZEN. Nothing like ice to make me cheerful.

But alas, it wasn't to last. At least I can hope that in Tromso when we venture well-above the Arctic Circle, we will at the very least experience some cold (though I should point out that the average low temperature for Tromso during its coldest month of January is a mere 20 degrees.... seriously. Where did all the cold go?).