Ice Skating on a Frozen Canal - Holland

No but my car got stuck 2x in the snow!

[link to i50.tinypic.com]

You guys actually play Hockey too ?

Nice, looks like home in Minnesota. We would skate on every pond, lake and creek when we were little.

Anyone read "Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates" lately?

i work on that new construction site in pijnacker . the world is small !

Whoa, good amount of snow! Bummer, that is the only problem with winter weather, travel.

Sure, although not quite the talent pool as out your way. The Dutch, as you likely know, are more into the speed skating. A few good ice hockey players in our area though and there are teams and competitions and the whole 9-yards.

I am happy to see the canals freezing over and a somewhat normal winter for you guys there again. We don't have much of a winter any more in the states, I miss it. I remember reading a story when I was kid about the canals in Holland being used for racing on speed skates when I lived in Texas, and when i was 11 I moved to upstate new york. The first thing I did was learn to skate and the second thing was to learn to play hockey.

I seem to recall the main characters name was Hans, perhaps you are familiar with the book. I wish I could remember the name of it, i was such a prolific reader at the time I read hundreds of books.

What an awesome way to grow up, nice video OP

Oh damned, I didn't see your post! That was the book! I read it when I was 10

Feels like Minnesota today!

Cheers!
Gonna have to download that one...


"Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates (full title: Hans Brinker; or, the Silver Skates: A Story of Life in Holland) is a novel by American author Mary Mapes Dodge, first published in 1865. The novel takes place in the Netherlands, and is a colorful fictional portrait of early nineteenth-century Dutch life, as well as a tale of youthful honor.

The title of the book refers to the beautiful silver skates to be awarded to winner of the ice-skating race Hans Brinker hopes to enter. The novel introduced the sport of Dutch speed skating to Americans, and in U.S. media Hans Brinker is still considered the prototypical speed skater.[1]

The book is also notable for popularizing the story of the little Dutch boy who plugs a dike with his finger."
Full:
[link to en.wikipedia.org]


WOW, I never knew that! Very interesting facts:
* introduced speed skating to America
* invented the Dutch boy plugging the leaking dyke with his finger

Cool.

Cheers Ron, the world is small and The Netherlands even smaller! LOL

No work today I guess, too cold eh?

Just not that well. . But I think they gravitated towards speed skating because of the long canals all over the cities. Speed skating is fun but I never got that good at it, I was more of a sharp radius turning hockey player. My skates had such an absurd radius on them no one else could skate on them. 2 inches of flat compared to about 15-17 on speed skates. The only way you can turn on the damned things is crossing over and I kept digging the toes of my blades into the ice.

Gezellig! Is this your own video?
Also in Holland its tradition while being on or around the ice to eat green pea soup with smoked sausage, just so you know.

Thanks!

Yep, that's the book I read. When I lived in the ST Lawrence valley we played hockey on ponds every chance we got. We would spend hours shoveling and then chop a hole through the ice and spread buckets of water to make the ice smoother, it always had that crust on it after you shoveled it. Great memories of my childhood riding the old ski doo Olympic with the loud ass 1 banger engine right in front of you and your skates tucked under the cowling and a hockey stick on the running boards.

I would love to go there just for the freedom and maybe smoke a few doobs and go skating on the canals. I've always wanted to go to Germany and Holland.Our lives here are so stressful these days it seems our good times are over.

Yep, filmed over the weekend. Ice is fantastic today (have to maintain it nightly though) and look forward to getting out on it during lunch. Great for the kids, but I like to cruise around at night, in the dark - just an incredible feeling ice skating at night outside, under the stars and all.

Indeed, need some of that soup - we are missing that till now! What is best of all about this, is the neighborhood comes together. Talk to people and make contacts you never had before, indeed, 'gezellig'!



gezellig
(Gezelligheid)
...depending on context, can be translated as convivial, cosy, fun, quaint, or nice atmosphere, but can also connote belonging, time spent with loved ones, the fact of seeing a friend after a long absence, or general togetherness. The word is considered to be an example of untranslatability, and is one of the hardest words to translate to English.[1] Some consider the word to encompass the heart of Dutch culture.[2]
Source:
[link to en.wikipedia.org]

Skating on natural ice...American style..

Well its never to late they say. Although stressed and hard working people are to be found in relative large numbers here too. But you just have to experience it your self, so feel welcome!

Ps: I forgot to mention that the green pea soup has to be really thick and hot and is called 'snert'.

well great! Thanks for sharing! And nice little action shots here and there with the skates close to the camera.
And a good idea to put a little translation in there!
Have fun again today!

Well its never to late they say. Although stressed and hard working people are to be found in relative large numbers here too. But you just have to experience it your self, so feel welcome!

Ps: I forgot to mention that the green pea soup has to be really thick and hot and is called 'snert'.

It will get better; but for sure, you should try to check out the low-lands and Germany. Great experience.

There are problems here too, that is for sure. With wintery times like this though, everything seems sugar-coated, that it true.

wtf, lol. I was expecting something rougher, like this!

WTH, video did not get posted with my last post, second try:

Thanks s7, appreciate it.

:voc:

Very nice video!!
5 stars.

Very nice video!!
5 stars.

Wow, that was cool! 60 KM per hour!

Like I said, i moved from Texas to the St.Lawrence valley when I was 11, the winters lasted 5 months back then. Talk about a radical change. I know what you mean about the sugar coated part, shoot we had drifts over 20 ft high in the late 70's. Talk about your Normal Rockwell Christmases. The first winter I was there it snowed 25 inches overnight on Christmas eve. I got introduced to a snow shovel by my father and some simple instructions. "dig the car out"/ About the time i got the drive way pretty much shoveled the snowplow went by and filled the end of the drive way with snow , taking out our mailbox in the deal too. That was back during the Carter years and the oil embargo, we had three wood stoves in the house. I started to think my name was "get wood". By the time I was a young teen we were making really good money for kids cutting and splitting firewood and selling it. All you needed was a 14 horse snow machine to drag the logs and a good chain saw and some gumption.
We would split when it was below or near zero, the wood would just split so much easier than when it was warm.