This is a continuation (kind of) of the question LucyLucia asked a few weeks back: Are there special “biking outfits” that people wear when it gets cold? You know, like special water proof insulated pants you put over regular pants? I don’t know why this fascinates me, but it does!!

Well, we got our first snow last night! It wasn’t that much, really, maybe 1-2 inches. Since Mr. DJ and I needed to go to a town 30 minutes away to turn in some paperwork, we got to see how the hearty Dutch handled this weather.

As you can see, it didn’t slow them down one bit. I took this photo during “Rush Hour”–about 8:30 am. Look how dark it still was!

It must be nice to grow up in the Netherlands where your main mode of transportation is a snug-looking bakfiets.

I took this photo sometime before 9:00 am. Still pretty dark. The main roads were clear, but the residential roads were a bit slippery. I did see some people walking their bikes through the snowy streets.

Doesn’t that bike lane look dangerous? I guess it wasn’t too bad, because this fellow navigated it just fine.

~

And speaking of bike lanes, Anne of Beyond Ramen wondered: “Are those reddish areas dedicated bike lanes?”

Very perceptive, Anne! They are bike lanes, and if you’re a pedestrian, it’s wise to stay out of them. Sometimes, especially near the Centrum, it is hard to tell the difference between a bike lane and a sidewalk. The bike lanes can be set apart from the main road by a curb and look very much like a wide sidewalk–at least to the uninitiated tourist. But Let Op (watch out!) because cyclists won’t  hesitate to shoo you out of their way. I know this from personal experience–LOL :-)

~

A while back, Julia asked of this Wordless Wednesday photo: “That lady bug bike is hilarious! Also, is that a scooter using the bike crossing?”

Julia, I think that’s a motorbike of some sort. They are allowed to use the bike lanes… I’m not quite sure what the rules are for them, but I suspect they have to adhere to a reasonable speed limit because I’ve never had a bad experience with a biker trying to mow me down. And isn’t  that “ladybug” adorable? I’ve seen quite a few of these velomobiles in the bike lanes here.

~

And finally, my bloggy friend Alyson of New England Living asked: “Are you going to post pics of your tree?”

Well, Alyson, here’s our humble little tree. We bought it during our first year in England for the smallest of our two English-sized rentals. This little guy is only six feet tall and not very big around. It actually looks very Charlie Brown-ish here in our American-sized Dutch townhome, :-)

As I said, it only took us 30 minutes to decorate this tree. All of the ornaments you see are from our time here on this side of the Atlantic (mostly from England). Before we moved from Texas, we had this “great” idea that we’d collect Christmas ornaments during our 2-3 years away, and those would be a special addition to our existing ornament collection when we repatriated. Ahem. Well, I REALLY regret not bringing our family ornaments over with us. It was always so nice to open up that special box and sigh over the old friends. Some of the ornaments were from my childhood, and some of them were part of Mr. DJ’s grandparents’ collections.

Well, anyway, I am going to try to find that box when we head to Texas later this month. I just hope I was smart and stuck it in the front of one of our storage units!

~

Well, that’s the last Ask an Expat for this year. I’ll post more Q+A in mid-January, so please feel free to leave your questions in the comments. I’ll still be here through the Holidays, though, so do stop in if you’re needing a bit of a tea (or eggnog!) break from all of your festivities :-)