Final Snowy Solstice Morning

The sun rises on my final morning here, on the shortest day of the year. It’s colourful and magical, but I’m glad to be going. I’ve had fun in the snow –as you have probably noticed from my snowbsession these past few weeks-, but I’m glad to be heading south for the summer!

Early bird catches the worm they say… although berries would be more accurate! I finally found out what happened to my snowctopus’s eyes! Indeed, I caught the culprit red-beaked:

HA! Gotcha! I hope he enjoyed his early breakfast, cheeky blackbird! :p

Strategic retreat, although at some point he’ll head back down to finish off the other eye. I should have used coal…

Tonight I’m moving out to a friend’s apartment to be closer into town. Tomorrow morning I need to get up early to take a suitcase to the Post Office to have it mailed back to Spain (all my winter stuff, plus some chocolate and other goodies), head over to the bank to get some kiwi dollars, print my e-tickets and boarding cards and then catch a 13h45 train to Lille in France from where I get a TGV to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and then… I’m off! Up, up and away!!! New Zealand and a summer Christmas, here I come!!! :o)

(this would be the end of my snowbsession of the past month... I just realised I haven't written anything that didn't talk about snow since the end of February, lol!)



White Weekend

So after a snowy Friday, I woke up yesterday morning to see a beautiful blue sky out of my window, with sunlight shining down on the snow!

I needed to go into town to finish up my Christmas shopping, and as I was heading out I decided to walk into town along the river to enjoy the sun and snow and take a few pictures of something I'd never seen before this year: snowy riverbanks along the Meuse!

This one's coming up on the Pont de Fragnée:

I walked along the bank until I reached this point and realised I could go no further! I was at the meeting point of the Ourthe and the Meuse!

Snowy Friday

So yesterday morning I quickly posted a couple of pics of the view from my bedroom window and said I was wondering what would be waiting for me 150m higher up on the university campus... well, here's the answer:

That's the view from within the bus, was a bit thicker down below and the bus was having so much trouble making it up the hill for a moment I thought he'd pull over and say "time to walk guys!". It was snowing hard, and from my stop to class I got covered in snow!

But when I got out of my first class at noon, no more clouds, gorgeous sunshine, and everything looked lovely!!!

 

It's BAAAAACK!!!

File this under the category "Be careful what you wish for"...

When I got up to Campus on Monday for my first class of the week, I was complaining how ugly everything looked with the snow all gone (melted with the *slightly* warmer weekend temperatures and rain) and how it was no fun dealing with below freezing temperatures if you couldn't at least have pretty snow!

Yeah well... several hours later it started snowing! Not much, just a few centimetres to make the place all white and shiny the next morning. But then Tuesday evening... aye! aye! aye!!! When I got up Wednesday morning: snow in town, so even more snow up on the hill! Plus it started snowing again during my first class, and I had to cross the whole bloody campus while it was snowing! (if it had been raining I would say pouring!)

Not that I minded all that much as you can tell from the grin on my face:

MORE snow?!?!?!

This is utter madness! This is my 10th Fall in Liège and I've NEVER seen anything like this, never before Christmas, and never even this much or this long during "real" winter (although I missed the 2 worst ones of the past ten years).

What am I going on about? You remember me complaining about the "slushy snow" that was raining down on the city all day Sunday? The stuff that melted all the snow in town and has stopped me from making a snowman in my back yard? Well it never occurred to me that up on campus the situation would be any different. Silly me, I forgot that the Sart Tilman - our "hill" - is about 150m above the city (Liège is only 68m above sea level). And what was rain down here was probably snow up there! So basically it snowed all day Sunday, stayed freezing Monday, snowed again a bit yesterday... and here's the result:

 
You think that's white? Take a look at this!

Feathered Visitors

A cool thing about this cold snap and all this snow, is that there have been a lot more birds hanging out in the gardens on the other side of my window! They're so cute hopping about and eating the last berries on the bushes, they make everything come alive! :o)

Allow me to introduce them to you (clicking on French names takes you to a bird website in French with distribution diet and more photos; Latin names takes you to Wikipedia in French, but I think you can change the language), and remember to click on photos for a larger view:

• Tourterelle turque or Streptopelia decaocto (Eurasian collared dove) some kind of dove that go released in the city "years" ago and has adapted quite nicely, in part probably thanks to friendly neighbours providing food during winter. These are the most abundant I've seen out of the window:

They particularly like the big fir tree: 

•  A male Merle or Turdus merula (common blackbird),  always with a bright and shiny plumage!

closeup:

who had quite a feast on berries like these!

• And finally, surprise one morning, a Mésange charbonnière or Parus major (great tit) lovely little thing!

Apparently they're all a lot more visible now with the snow because they come closer to the houses seeking refuge from the cold, and looking for those fatty seed balls some people put out to feed them. Lucky me! But they'd better be careful, they're not the only critters hanging around in the backyards...

miaow! ;o)

I've been trying to get a shot of the large crows up on campus... but unlike these guys, they seem to have disappeared! :s

Snowy week!

It's been crrrazy here in Liège this past week! Snowing almost every day, snow up on the hill (on campus) and snow downtown (which almost never happens! or at least it doesn't "stick"). And temperatures below freezing for 10 days straight. This is my 10th Fall in Belgium, and I've NEVER seen this much cold and snow this soon!!!

I cancelled my evening sports activities due to being worried about being stuck up on campus at night if the snowing increased and the buses stopped running (they do that some times, nightmare!), but I enjoyed myself like a 6-year-old kid all week long goofing around in the snow and taking pictures! So here go some snowy shots and the tale of last week. ;o)

This what I woke up to on Tues Nov 30th:

 Snow and the cars and the street:

made some things irresistible!

(and yes I know I'm early... 3 weeks to go!)

Snowy morning!

And after last night's snowfall, here's what I woke up to:

Looks gorgeous from inside my room, but I wonder how I'll feel when I have to go out in it! :p

First snow on campus

I mentioned in my post yesterday that it had started snowing while I was in class... and I was wondering whether there would be any left when I got up there this morning. Well, here's the answer (taken w/ my cellphone, so not perfect):

Not much for those of you who have already gotten a decent snowfall this year, but it made me feel all giddy and goofy (plus I've had Christmas carols stuck in my since yesterday's snow)! It was actually snowing again (lightly) when I got off the bus! The snow's not sticking to the road, but it sure looks pretty on the leaves and branches of the trees and other plants! :o)

This weekend the temperatures are supposed to be mostly around or below freezing, and I'm wondering what my Sunday hike is going to be like... at a higher altitude and further inland. Will I get snow? What's it like hiking in snow? I hope my regular hiking boots will do the trick! Although I'm afraid the hat I brought with me isn't warm enough, and I didn't bring any snow gloves... winter is coming in much earlier (and colder!) than last year here in Belgium!

The MAC is BACK! and we're both settled in Liège...

Yay! They fixed my computer in 4 days instead of 10! All Hail the MAC Gods!!! :o)

Unfortunately work and a social life kind of got in the way with me finishing this post sooner... (I started it a week ago!) :p

Here it is sitting happily in its new resting place, with a shiny new keyboard (one of the parts that needed changing):

As for the larger setting, well here's what a very decent student lodging (called a kot) looks like in Liège:

About 15m2 I believe, with tall ceilings typical of these old houses. The shower and sink in the room... well considering I'm sharing the place with a bunch of messy guys (judging from the state of the kitchen downstairs), for once I'm pleased the shower is just my own! :p

I didn't need to bring bedding and towels and blankets since a friend of mine here has inherited a lot of those things from "us foreigners" whenever we left and I knew he'd be kind enough to set me up... he even added a cushion so I'd have extra propping-up when reading! It's great when friends know you so well! :o)

A couple of details on the bed I did bring with me... take a guess which ones and why? ;o)

I can't show you the view out the window (into the back yards of various houses) clearly 'cause the blinds are broken (is on owner's "pending" list of things to do), but here's what the view looks like through the blinds:

And here's what the house looks like from the street:

A typical local (old) construction, with the entry grates for coal (for heating/cooking) from "back in the day"...

...which go straight down into the basement:

Let's climb out of the dark...

and head up into the street!

It's a calm residential neighbourhood. Technically no longer in the Liège city limits by a couple of blocks... but next to a bike path that rolls along the river straight towards the Aquarium and into town. A friend might be able to loan me his bike, yay! And more importantly (work-wise) only a few blocks from the University bus stop!

And see how well they welcomed me into the neighbourhood?

They set up a flee market just for me! (kidding)

Classes have started up at the University. I've met half my students and they're ok so far. Will meet the rest next week and get a better feel for the first ones. I hope to find time to write plenty of things about this city and Belgium on my new travel blog "Cris Crossing the Globe", and more personal stories and adventures (have joined the local hiking group, been out in the Walloon hills and forests twice already!) and reviews (yes! am going to start up Monthly Movies and Monthly Reading again!) and of course Fishy Fridays over here.

what Cris did her last night in Liege...

GO CRAZY!!!!          ;o)

Ok, I know I've been too busy to actually write about what I've been doing here these 4 months, I'll get to it eventually (short version: teaching scientific English at the University). But in a packing interlude (I'm leaving tomorrow) I just wanted to share a few photos of what I did my last evening here...

I woke up this morning happy to see this:

 

because I hoped it would be a sign of possible snow before I left tomorrow. I had an ice-covered car 2 days ago (took me 15' to defrost it!), and was really hoping to have some snowy, goofy fun before heading south to the snowless lands.

Well this evening I was meeting friends to go ice-skating at the outdoor (but covered, it rains a lot here!) rink downtown in the Christmas market, and as I left at 18h I saw this:

COOL!!!!

(there were some Brazilians out enjoying their first snow earlier, lol!)

So, big event of the evening:

crazyness on the ice!

Spinning:

Helping a friend skate for the first time:

Warming up later with melted cheese:

then admiring all the snow downtown (where it almost never sticks, this is pretty rare here):

trying to catch snowflakes:

and going crazy again:

Back up on campus there was even more snow:

I hope some of it's still there in the morning so I can get some daytime shots before I go!

Now I've got to get back to my packing, and looking forward to getting home in time to hopefully still see this:

Also quite rare, to have snow-covered mountains behind Alicante! (photo taken 2 days ago by my mom)