Monday, February 13, 2012

The Big Freeze 2012


It's warm today: minus 1 Celsius.  This morning it was -11.  I no longer have to calculate temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit.  I'm getting used to the metric system in temperature and kilometers, grams and liters.  Measuring the length of one's body in meters, however, is a concept I can't figure out yet.  Feet and inches for height, that's what I understand.  Otherwise, I'm becoming bilingual in measurements.

The Big Freeze 2012 hit this area almost 2 weeks ago when we had a day and a half of wet snow which, not being cleared, turned to ice on the sidewalks.  Most of the ice has evaporated in Ferney-Voltaire, but not so in the Swiss towns that border Lac Leman, where wind whipped up waves from the lake and spray covered walls, plants, pavement, and even cars, converting all into uncanny ice sculptures.

I braved the bone-chilling wind and sub-zero temperature (with the wind-chill factor, it felt like minus 6 Fahrenheit, or minus 21 Celsius) and drove to two towns on Lac Leman, Versoix (10 minutes from Ferney-Voltaire) and Nyon, and then to Geneva.  Here is what I saw:

Versoix


Versoix


Versoix


Nyon


Nyon


Geneva


Geneva


Geneva

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