October Snow

Ack! We had a bit of unexpected weather last night. This picture is NOT from last year, it's from this morning, Oct 30. Reportedly the most snow Zürich has seen this early since 1939. Der Winter ist schon angekommen! Winter has arrived!

Our September was particularly unseasonably cold and wet, but October had mostly rebounded to normal. Then yestereday the temperatures dipped amidst some standard rainfall and voila! Next thing you know it's snowing. And snowing. And snowing. All afternoon and night. Kind of fun actually. I don't know any place other than Minnesota that gets more excited about snow than Switzerland. Everyone here went to bed with their skis or snowboard last night. Because when it snows in Zürich, it must be absolutely piling up in the mountains. Steph and I are already part of a ski excursion planned for Dec 5; it seemed a bit early but might be just fine if things keep up. We had a cold and snowy November last year as well--we remember vividly because we'd just arrived and everything seemed so new. Maybe we'll see a repeat this year.

But here this afternoon almost everything has melted into slush already; still too warm for much snow to stick around, except on some rooftops. A few pictures of Hobbes' and my excursions (he loves the snow like nothing else): http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=2hd8fyj.5lezcxb7&x=0&y=olx340&localeid=en_US